Character Replacement Project 01
by TCAnimorph
Summary: Thrown into a world she knows all too well as Ion, Solana Zahnne isn't sticking to the events of the story, and only time will tell where things go. Not a SI, will get very AU very fast. Rated T for future violence and possible future suggestive content.
1. The Beginning

In the best stories, the events of the story are driven by the characters and the actions they take and are not sucked along by a giant plot forcing people into roles.

But what if you went to the beginning of the story and gave one character knowledge of the entire storyline? They may try to change events. From there, they won't know what will happen, and the story that started almost the same could very well become a different story entirely. With even more possibilities, if a character's entire mind was replaced with the mind of someone familiar with the story, and with a different personality…

You get this.

* * *

Experiment 01- Tales Of The Abyss, test subject Solana Zahnne, target Fon Master Ion.

* * *

"Ion, get up."

…

"Ion!"

…

An unfamiliar voice suddenly woke me up. I had just laid down to take a nap after finally beating my most recent video game, Tales Of The Abyss, and somebody was already waking me up?

"Nooo… I want sleep," I groaned, opening my eyes to see who it was.

And promptly screamed and flailed around, managing to both tangle myself up in the sheets of the bed I was somehow on and accidentally hit a rather annoyed-looking girl in the face. She was rather short, with dark hair in huge pigtails and a pink… piece of clothing that covered most of her body, a white and purple coat over it.

It was unmistakably Anise, from Tales Of The Abyss, and I recognized the voice as hers as well. This had to be the weirdest and most realistic dream I had ever had.

"Honestly, Ion, what is with you? Screaming when I wake you up? You're not even one to sleep in most of the time," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

One thing registered, even though I wasn't quite awake. She had just called me Ion… and I didn't look a thing like Ion, being female with long white hair, reddish eyes, and no color to my skin. I shook myself off and managed to get myself out of the tangled sheets I was tied up in, and took the opportunity to steal a glance at myself. I could see a bit of dark green hair from the corner of my eyes that reminded me strongly of the color of pine needles, and my hands were unusually small and delicate and actually had some color to them.

This couldn't be a good thing. I decided to play along and get some time to try to wake myself up. Sleepy or not, this was a very weird dream and I wanted no part of it.

"I'm sorry, Anise, I had a strange dream. Can I have a few minutes…?" I said, trying to sound innocent and apologetic. My voice came out sounding just like Ion's. How weird, even for a dream.

"Alright, but please don't take too long. We're stopping in Engeve to wait for that letter, you know," Anise said. She looked a little more cheerful after my words, and left the small room.

I took the chance to observe where I was. It was one of those little rooms on the Tartarus, and I was alone with Anise gone. Unlike in the game, there was a closet and a mirror. Man, this was a realistic dream… and I never had realistic dreams.

"Okay… if I pinch myself and it doesn't hurt, I'll know it's a dream," I muttered. I pinched the skin on the back of my hand, and winced. It did hurt…

"…this is not cool. Not. Cool. I really hope I wake up soon," I sighed. I went over to the mirror, where I could see that I really did look exactly like Ion, with a childish face, wide pine-green eyes, a slightly upturned nose… I licked my slightly dry lips, and on the way back to rest my tongue felt a loose tooth where I had already gotten my adult tooth for a year or so. Of course, Ion was just a kid, so still having baby teeth was possible… but this was way too real to be a dream. I wasn't quite dressed, so I went to fix this. Ion's usual outfit was easy to get on, and rather comfortable, and the head ornaments were easy enough to figure out. I picked up the tuning-fork staff by the door and took a deep breath. If I wasn't dreaming, which I was starting to think was the case at this point, then I'd have to play Ion while figuring out what had happened. Luckily, Ion was just a cute naïve little thing, so it wouldn't be that hard. I just had to act mostly clueless and apologize too much and nobody would know the difference.

I hoped.

I opened the door, and stepped out. No doubt, it was the Tartarus. I could barely feel the landship's motion, but I could recognize now that the vessel I was aboard was moving.

"Hello, Fon Master. Anise told me you had a bad dream," a cool and vaguely amused voice said from behind me. I stiffened up in shock for a second, then turned to see a tall man in a sharp blue uniform behind me, clever red eyes watching from behind glasses and straw-colored hair straight, long, and neat. Colonel Jade Curtiss. I wasn't sure how to talk to him while still seeming like Ion…

"N-No, it wasn't… I already forgot it," I stuttered, nervous. Great, he was going to know something was up, and only a few minutes into this…

"Hmm. Well, in any case, we're almost to Engeve. You should come into town as well, the fresh air would be beneficial to your health," Jade said, staring me down with an unreadable expression. "Shall we?"

"Alright," I said. Jade turned and started off, taking precise steps, while I followed along behind him, staff still clutched in my hands.

It wasn't long until he led me to a closed door, where Anise was waiting. I noticed her battle plushie, Tokunaga, tossed over her back. The Tartarus came to a stop as we approached.

"Hey, Ion. Don't wander too far, okay? I don't want to have to run around all of Engeve looking for you," Anise said to me. I responded by nodding, and watched as Jade opened the door. A set of stairs came down, and the two of them started down at once. I followed, trotting down the stairs after the pigtailed girl and red-eyed soldier. 

* * *

This is an actual serious fanfic. Yeah, really. Let's see how my cute albino girl Solana does when tossed into this world as Ion, shall we?


	2. Enter Engeve

And it continues. Already, little hints of change spring up...

* * *

As it turns out, Engeve is a decently-sized town. The part you see in the game is really only a tiny portion of the town- though I tried to stay around this area as I walked around, so that I wouldn't get lost. As I passed by the inn, I could hear a commotion going on. That's right… based on what had happened so far, this was when Luke would be accused of stealing. And of course, Ion was supposed to clear his name by finding cheagle fur. But I was Ion… so I'd have to do it. With this in mind, I slipped around to the side of the inn and stood still in the shadows, where I would go mostly unnoticed, and waited. Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long.

Just as I was starting to get fairly bored, and a little bit hungry, I heard a voice that was clearly Luke's. He was arguing about the food theft again… and, of course, he got arrested and Tear just quietly let him. As I could hear his protesting voice fade out, I slipped into the inn. Nobody paid attention to me as I crept into the storeroom. It was a nice cool room, rather dark and nicely dry, perfect for storing food. And, stuck on a little bit of wood was a tuft of bright yellow fur. Score. I plucked it off, then left the building, still going unnoticed. It was surprising how little attention I drew as Ion… but it wasn't a long walk to the house of Rose, a certain village elder. I pressed my ear to the door. I could hear Tear calmly explaining that she and Luke weren't with the Dark Wings… perfect timing. I tucked my staff under my arm and opened the door, still holding the cheagle fur. I emerged into the back of a small crowd, and gave a purposely loud cough. Everybody turned to look at me.

"I heard that food was being stolen, so I went to look… and I found a hint towards the identity of the real thief. The redhead is innocent," I said. They let me through, and I opened my hand, showing the yellow fur. A woman on the lower end of elderly took the fur and inspected it.

"This is fur from a sacred cheagle," she said.

"I told you I was innocent," Luke said, giving annoyed glares to the townspeople. He then looked at me. "And thanks for backing me up, um…"

"Ion," I said, allowing myself a small smile. However, this was a bit worrying. He was already showing a hint of gratitude… which was different from the game. I wasn't sure what would happen if I made everything go differently… ah well.

"Wait, you're not Fon Master Ion, are you?" Luke asked. Yup, things were going off-course.

"You didn't know?" an amused Jade said, sipping his tea. "My, my." Luke shot him a glare.

"Jade, if you need me, I'm going to be around the inn," I said, before turning and leaving. As I started to walk away, I thought to myself, _I'm going to be stopped and questioned by Luke in 3… 2… 1…_

"Hey! Ion! Stop, I wanna ask you something!"

Right on cue. I stopped, and turned around with an innocent smile on my face. Luke was hastily approaching, with Tear following with her hand pressed firmly against her forehead.

"Hello there. What is it?" I said.

"Master Van told me you went missing. What are you doing here?" the redhead asked.

"Missing? Oh, he must be mistaken. I don't believe we've met, by the way. You already know who I am… what's your name?" I said. It was really all I could think of… he wouldn't believe me if I told him Van had really left for other purposes.

"I'm Luke. You're Ion, right? For the supreme leader of the Order of Lorelei, you sure are… little," Luke responded, scratching his head. He didn't quite seem to know how to respond to me.

"Luke! I'm sorry, Fon Master, I'm sure he didn't mean to insult you," Tear said, glaring daggers at Luke. She really was a pretty girl in person, I noted.

"It's alright. I'm still fairly young, and I'm not up to the average height for my age, so I guess I am little," I said. Unfortunately, this was something that hadn't changed when I suddenly woke up as Ion- I'd always been a tad short. Luke was lucky I was playing Ion, because usually I socked people in the face when they commented on my height. It was just one of those things that really bugged me.

"See, he doesn't care. Well, anyways… it's good to have that cleared up. Later," Luke said. He turned to leave. I reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"By the way… your name is nice. It means 'light of the sacred flame', doesn't it?" I said. He looked at me, confused. I let go of his arm, and let him and Tear leave. Tear glanced back at me, but I was soon occupied by something else.

"There you are, Ion! I've been looking for you!" Anise said as she walked over to me. She grabbed my free hand and started to drag me off. "It's about lunchtime. Aren't you hungry? Or are you too busy spacing out to notice?"

"S-Sorry, Anise," I sighed as I stumbled trying to keep up with the energetic little girl. She led me back towards the Tartarus, leaving town. Jade joined us, and I tried to ignore the way he was inspecting me like a rare test subject. It didn't take long for us to arrive, where somebody had set up a picnic blanket and some food beside the huge landship. It looked silly, to be honest, but I pretended not to notice as the three of us sat down to eat lunch.

"That Luke boy was rather charming," Jade commented. "Though a tad ignorant. He didn't realize you were the Fon Master until your name was brought up."

"I thought he was nice," I said. I really didn't- Luke was kinda a jerk. It just seemed like the kind of thing Ion would say.

"You think everyone is nice," Anise said. I fell silent and ate my lunch while not speaking, while Jade and Anise got into a conversation without me. After I had finished my food, which was a rather tasty meat stew that I had a suspicion Jade had made, I stood up.

"I'll be back in a minute… um, which way was the bathroom again? I forgot."

* * *

Solana was originally a girl. Fon Master Ion is a boy. Poor thing.


	3. Cloudwatching

I am on a roll here~! This chapter is just cute fluffy filler. Next time, things HAPPEN.

* * *

When I got back to Jade and Anise, I was rather embarrassed, face reddened in a blush. I had almost forgotten that Ion was a boy… since I was Ion now, I wasn't a girl anymore… and this made using the restroom very, very awkward. Anise noticed this at once.

"Hey, Ion. Why are you blushing like that?" she asked. She and Jade had returned to the bridge of the Tartarus, and I had gone to meet them there.

"Uhh… w-well, I accidentally dropped my staff, and when I went to pick it up, I tripped and fell on my face," I said, looking away. It was a lie, of course, but what was I supposed to say?

"Ion, you're such a goofball. Why don't you go read a book or something? That way, you can't possibly hurt yourself," Anise sighed.

"Oh no, Anise, I have to disagree. The Fon Master might get a dreadful paper cut," Jade said in his most obviously joking tone.

"Jade, that's not funny!" Anise said indignantly, while I stifled a giggle and Jade sat there with a smug look.

"I'll just go watch the clouds," I suggested. Anise looked relieved, seeing as this wasn't dangerous at all, and I ended up staring at the sky picking out images in the clouds while absently humming to myself. Ion's voice wasn't the greatest for singing or humming, but I could make it work well enough.

After a while, Anise came and joined me, sitting next to me. At this point, I was humming the Grand Fonic Hymn.

"That song sounds weirdly familiar. And since when did you sing?" Anise said.

"I'm humming, actually, though I could sing it. If I tell you what it is, you can't tell Jade or Mohs or anybody at all, okay?" I said, looking at her.

"Alright… I promise I won't tell. What is it?" the Fon Master Guardian responded, looking confused. I knew she was really spying on us, me especially since I was Ion… but I figured this wouldn't hurt.

"It's Yulia's Grand Fonic Hymn. I can't put anything behind it, I just know the song… but I really like the tune," I said.

"Wow, you know the Grand Fonic Hymn? I didn't know you knew it… you should sing it for me, actually sing," Anise said, her eyes lighting up. She looked so cheerful and innocent, not like the little fireball who would scream _"I'll kill you bastards!"_ as she fell off the Tartarus. I paused to consider this. My voice as Ion would probably butcher that song… but heck, Ion wouldn't say no to Anise.

"Alright… just for you," I said. I took a breath, and my eyes flickered to a cloud that looked a bit like a music note. I could see a fonstone behind it. I began to sing, my voice managing the words better than I had hoped and the tune coming out perfectly.

"_Tue rei ze kroa ryou tue ze…_

_Kroa ryou ze tue ryou rei neu ryou ze…_

_Va rei ze tue, neu tue ryou tue kroa…_

_Ryou rei kroa ryou ze rei va ze rei…_

_Va neu va rei, va neu va ze rei…_

_Croa ryou croa neu tue rei, croa ryou ze rei va…_

_Rei va neu croa tue rei rei…_"

As I finished, the music-note-shaped cloud started to be broken up by the wind.

"Wow, Ion, that was beautiful…" Anise said, clearly stunned. I was just as surprised as she was- I hadn't thought Ion could sing. It could have just been my influence, or it could have been the song… either way.

"Thank you, Anise," I said, smiling at her. I couldn't let my surprise show or she'd be suspicious. She smiled at me, then turned her gaze to the sky.

"…Hey, Ion. That cloud looks like a rappig," she said, pointing up into the sky. I followed her gaze. The shape did remind me of those weird animals, like pigs only with a rabbit's ears and hind legs.

"It does. That one there looks like Tokunaga," I said in response, pointing to a round cloud with two points on top that looked like ears and two long tendrils like the doll's arms.

"Heehee, you're right!"

This went on for quite a while, finding shapes in clouds and just talking. She managed to find a cloud that looked like Jade's glasses, even, which was impressive, and one that resembled my staff. After a while, I gave a content sigh.

"Anise?" I started, looking over at her.

"Yeah, Ion?" the dark-haired girl said, returning my look. She had a soft and warm smile on her face.

"You're a great friend. I certainly couldn't do something like this with the Colonel," I said, returning her smile. Really, even though I had just met her, I felt like I'd known her for a long time. Anise paused, probably imagining me sitting beside Jade and looking for shapes in the clouds. She laughed.

"He'd probably find a bunch of weird science things, or say that it just looks like a cloud," Anise said, grinning at me. Yes, I could certainly imagine Jade doing that. We continued to look at the clouds for some time, but eventually Anise left to do important stuff with Jade. I took the opportunity to wander around the halls of the Tartarus, trying to familiarize myself with the landship's interior. My room was fairly high up in the ship, only a short walk to the deck, and almost directly above the engine room. I wandered around for a while, not stopped by anyone, and eventually came across the small kitchen as they were preparing dinner for the crew. I crept off with an apple to eat, since I was a bit hungry but not very. I started absently messing around with my loose tooth as I walked and munched on my apple, noting what led where for future reference.

After quite a while, I started to head back to the room I had first woken up in, as I was getting tired. I was probably more tired because Ion's body was fragile… whatever the reason, I managed to find my way back while only needing to ask for directions once, and changed into the light, loose-fitting pants and shirt that I had woken up in. I collapsed onto the bed, and remembered something just as I was falling asleep. If I didn't sneak off to Cheagle Woods the next day, Luke and Tear would be stuck fighting the liger alone, since Jade wouldn't come after them.

Oh joy… another thing I had to do.

* * *

Our hero just wasted several hours walking around the Tartarus and cloud-watching with Anise. Oh goody.


	4. To Cheagle Woods

In this chapter, I introduce and kill off a character in the exact same chapter. Oh goody.

* * *

I woke up on my own accord the next morning, and instantly grabbed a lock of my hair and brought it into my view. Still that deep green color… looks like I was definitely not dreaming. For whatever reason, I really was Ion, and I'd have to continue to be Ion. I got up and dressed myself again, in an identical outfit to the previous day, and picked up my staff on the way out. I had to get to the Cheagle Woods… hopefully, Jade and Anise would follow me. It was easy enough to sneak to the door, which was unfortunately closed.

"Need some help there, Fon Master?" a slightly amused female voice said from behind me. I turned, startled, to see one of the Malkuth soldiers there. Her uniform was the usual uniform, with the helmet that covered her face like a bird's beak over her head, but it was a girl, and she didn't even sound that old.

"Oh… uh, yes please. I have to go do something," I said. She giggled, and opened the door.

"Don't hurt yourself, darling. Want me to come with you?" the soldier girl said as the stairs unfolded downwards. I considered this. The extra hand fighting and the protection would be nice, but if I got too attached to her, if she died in the attack on the Tartarus… ah well, maybe we wouldn't even need Jade to rescue us from the liger if she was good.

"Sure," I said, smiling as I started down the stairs to the ground. "What's your name?"

"Talia Quinn, pleased to meet you," she said. She followed me, calm and quiet as I started to walk north, away from town.

I knew it was the right way, partly because after several minutes, Talia interrupted the silence and asked, "Why are we going north?"

"Well… it's about the cheagles," I said, hoping she wasn't going to take me back before I could get there.

"Oh, okay. If we get attacked, leave it to me, darling," she said. Phew. We continued walking, going largely ignored by the occasional wild creature. Once, one of those things that looks like an Oddish with two leaf-antennae- yes, I know about Pokémon, shut up I'm not a nerd- attacked, and Talia quickly whipped out a sword and beat the little creature with the flat of the blade until it ran away. It dropped a few coins as it fled.

"Huh, it dropped… money…?" I said, scooping up the coins.

"Yup. Nobody knows why, but that's how it is, darling," Talia said with a shrug. I sort of wished she would stop calling me darling. We continued, and soon, we arrived at the entrance to the Cheagle Woods.

A wolf suddenly jumped out of nowhere and tackled Talia from behind, knocking her to the ground. She rolled over with an alarmed cry, trying to wrestle the animal off her back. I took a few steps back, and found more wolves appearing. While some of them went for Talia, a couple of the wolves turned towards me. I froze up, too scared to react, while Talia screamed, struggling under a horde of wolves. As I watched, she stopped struggling, and a couple of the wolves started to drag her limp body away, leaving only her sword on the ground.

I was seriously in trouble now.

Talia was almost certainly dead, and now the wolves were starting to eye me hungrily. As they started to approach, something clicked into place in my mind.

Have you ever been thinking, and all of a sudden you just remember something and it's like you just _know_ it all of a sudden?

I suddenly just _knew_ how to use all of the abilities I had as Fon Master Ion- the Daathic fonic artes, reading the Score, everything. It was almost overwhelming. As the wolves surrounded me, I knew what I could do to save myself. Too bad I couldn't have saved Talia too…

"I'm sorry, Talia… I found out too late," I said aloud. I focused, and a huge amount of energy entered my body. I knelt down and slammed my hand against the ground. A huge white glyph appeared on the ground below me, and under the wolves. I felt the energy suddenly flow out of me into the glyph, and a pillar of white light burst from the glyph, incinerating the wolves that had moved to attack me. The remaining wolves turned and fled. It was a good thing, too, because a wave of dizziness and pain washed over me as I stood back up. I gave a soft gasp, and lost my grip on my staff as I collapsed to the ground. My heart was pounding frantically in my chest, and I tried to reach out and grab my staff, but I couldn't move. I had known that Daathic fonic artes hurt Ion to use, but this felt more like I was dying than anything.

"Fon Master! Are you alright?" I heard a voice call. It sounded like Tear… I saw this was right when I felt someone roll me over on my back, and I found myself looking up at Tear's worried face. I drew a shaky breath, tried to speak, only managed a painful wheeze. I took another breath.

"I-I'll be fine… I used a strong Daathic fonic arte… too strong," I gasped. The pain was fading fast, but I still felt incredibly weak.

"Jeez… yeah, we saw that. You just about killed yourself doing that," Luke said. I sat up, shaking slightly, and Tear and Luke both helped me to stand up. I staggered slightly, but managed to stay up.

"I-I had a soldier with me… Talia… th-the wolves got her while I was still casting that," I said, looking down at the bloody sword in the grass while still trembling.

"Man… so you were trying to save her too, but you couldn't? Dang… poor little guy," Luke said. He picked up the sword. "…Since she doesn't need this anymore, could I?" He apparently took my silence as a yes, as he replaced his wooden sword with the fallen Talia's.

"Ion. What are you doing in such a dangerous place?" Tear asked me. She bent down and retrieved my staff, and I gratefully took it back from her.

"I wanted to find out why the cheagles were stealing… they're peaceful creatures, and they eat things that grow around here," I said, putting the end of my staff against the ground and leaning on it. "Maybe there's trouble… they might need help. By the way, I never got your name…" A lie, of course, I knew who she was. But she didn't know that.

* * *

Solana's now a bit closer to being on track with the game... watch her ruin it next chapter.


	5. Enter Mieu

In this chapter, we get a Mieu.

* * *

Surprisingly, the Cheagle Woods were almost exactly like the game, though bigger and with more plants and no random treasure chests of healing items. As such, while Tear and Luke fought off any monsters that tried to attack us, I helpfully pointed them in the right direction. Neither of them thought to ask how I knew this, which I was grateful for. After a while of walking, I noticed something.

The cheagles depicted in the game are really not accurate. The ears and size are right… but they're more like really big hamsters with fur on their entire paws in terms of their body. Their faces also look more hamsterlike, though their noses aren't visible and they have thin, nearly invisible whiskers.

I say this now because at that moment, a cheagle wandered out of the bushes in front of us.

"Look! A cheagle!" I said, pointing. "This must mean we're getting close to their nesting place!"

The cheagle stared blankly at us for a moment, then scurried off with a cry of "Mieeeeeu!"

"Well then, let's keep going," Luke said. "And we're taking Ion with us."

"How can you think of taking the Fon Master somewhere so dangerous?" Tear exclaimed, looking seriously annoyed.

"What else would we do? If he even made it back to town on his own, he'd probably just wander back here by himself… and besides, we can't just leave a kid who's so pale he looks like he's going to just drop dead," Luke said, folding his arms. "And if he had to use that weird arte, he could pass out and get himself eaten like that girl soldier…"

"…Alright. But you have to make sure he doesn't get hurt," Tear responded. I grinned to myself as we walked on ahead and stepped out into a clearing.

It was a huge clearing, and right there in the middle was the biggest tree you ever saw. This thing was like a redwood, except not a conifer and even bigger. I stood there for a minute, staring up at the tree.

"That is the biggest tree I've ever seen," I said, trying to look at the top and failing.

"It's… definitely big," Luke said, following my gaze. "I wonder how tall it is?"

"Very, very tall," I responded. "The cheagles probably live inside that thing. Wow. That is a huge tree."

"Are you two coming or not?" a completely unimpressed Tear said, halfway to the enormous tree.

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming. Get over here, Ion," Luke instantly said. He grabbed my wrist and started to drag me over, and I stumbled a bit trying to keep up with the energetic redhead. Soon, we were standing in front of the absolutely massive tree trunk. There was an apple on the ground, a small symbol cut into the side. I scooped it up, and handed it to Tear.

"This apple's from Engeve," she said. There was a faint squeak from a split in the tree trunk.

"Did you hear something?" Luke asked, glancing at the tree.

"Cheagles live inside tree trunks… I bet their nests are in there," I said. I bravely stepped towards it and walked in. From behind me, I could hear Tear calling to me that it was too dangerous, and Luke muttering that I was hopeless. In front of me, however, a crowd of brightly colored cheagles had assembled to block my way, all 'mieu'-ing at me. Luke and Tear joined me seconds later.

"Please, let me through," I said to them. They could understand me, I knew that… but I'd probably have to bring up Yulia before they'd let me in.

"What, so monsters can understand people now, or are you just delusional?" Luke said. Yeah, he was an arrogant little brat. I would have liked to kick him, but Ion wouldn't do that, so I couldn't.

"The cheagles have to be able to, or they couldn't have formed a pact with Yulia Jue. That's the reason they're a symbol of our order," I said, glancing at Luke. He didn't notice the mild annoyance I was doing a poor job of hiding. And, just as I had hoped…

"Are you of relation to Yulia Jue?" a voice said. The crowd of cheagles scattered, and a rather old-looking one with purple fur and a large ring held in its paws approached.

"Whoa, it talks!" Luke exclaimed.

"That is the power granted by the Sorcerer's ring. Are you of relation to Yulia Jue?" the cheagle said. I figured it was my turn to speak up again before Luke got to interrupt.

"Yes. I'm Fon Master Ion, current leader of the Order of Lorelei," I said. I took a step forward, and decided to outdo the real Ion by taking a graceful bow. Tear barely managed to suppress a chuckle.

"Hey. Cheagle. What are you guys stealing food for? Can't you just get your own?" Luke interrupted.

"Yes, cheagles are herbivores, and there are plenty of plants around. Why human food?" Tear added, though much more politely. I made a mental note that Luke had no manners whatsoever. So much for nobility.

"One of our members caused a fire in the northern forest. The ligers that lived there moved to our forest, and are forcing us to bring them food. If we do not, they kill and eat any cheagles they can catch," the cheagle elder calmly explained.

"That's horrible… I can understand they'd be upset, but they're taking retaliation way too far," I said, pretending to be shocked. Honestly, knowing how unreasonable the ligers were, this was fairly tame. At least they were giving the poor little things a chance to save themselves.

"It's not really our problem," Luke grumbled.

"Actually, Luke, if the cheagles were to stop bringing the ligers food and were wiped out, the ligers would move on to attacking Engeve. And food from Engeve is shipped everywhere in this world, even Kimlasca," I said, shooting him a very, very irritated look. He blinked, surprised that the 'cute little Ion' could muster that much animosity.

"So what do we do about it?" Luke asked.

"Maybe we can negotiate with the ligers on behalf of the cheagles? Try to arrange things so that the cheagles can help the ligers fix up their forest or something? That way, the ligers would feel they were being repaid, and the cheagles wouldn't have to steal," I suggested. I doubted the ligers would listen, though… we'd probably just end up fighting. Or, more accurately, I'd end up hiding while they try to fight and then get their sorry butts saved by Jade.

"Can the ligers talk too?" Luke asked.

"No. However, a cheagle may be able to serve as a translator," Tear said. Huh… that was my line.

"I shall lend the Sorcerer's Ring to one of us, and send them to be your interpreter," the cheagle elder said. He 'mieu'-ed at the crowd of cheagles, and several of the other cheagles shoved a bright blue cheagle out to where we were. "This child is the one who started the fire. He shall assist you." The elder passed the ring over, and the blue cheagle pulled the ring up around its belly. It fit on nicely.

"Hi there… I'm Mieu, nice to meet you," the little cheagle squeaked, looking up at us.

"Agh… this thing is annoying," Luke growled.

With that, we started out of the tree, to 'negotiate' with the ligers.

* * *

Hooray for cheagles and really big trees! Shall negotiations fail like in the game...? Only time will tell.


	6. We're Off To See The Ligers

We're off to see the ligers~ The wonderful ligers of Auldrant~

* * *

Of course, Mieu showed us his fireball trick almost at once. Before Luke could claim Mieu and make him act on his command, though, I got Mieu to take orders from me. As we started off towards the place where the ligers lived, Mieu was perched safely on my shoulder. Soon, we came to a stream.

"There's no bridge," Luke observed with a frown.

"Oh well," I said. I approached the water's edge, and carefully dipped one foot in the water. "It's fairly warm, and we'll dry off quickly…" I didn't want to waste time making log bridges. Luke could man up and wade or stay behind.

"I don't want to run around in wet clothes," Luke whined. I had already walked halfway across, using my staff to test for deep spots. The water didn't even come up to my knees, and I was the shortest person besides Mieu.

"Luke, the Fon Master is already halfway across the stream," Tear said, starting to follow me. "If you'd like, we can leave you behind."

"Agh, fine," Luke growled. He followed behind, trying to move across the stream as quickly as possible without splashing himself. Unfortunately for the redheaded brat, as he darted past me, he slipped on a mossy rock and fell in the water, getting completely wet. "OH, COME ON!"

"Running ahead gets you nowhere, Luke," I said as I stepped up onto dry land. Luke grumbled to himself as he got up and shook off like a wet dog, getting water on me and Tear.

"If you hadn't tried to run, you wouldn't have slipped," Tear said, looking rather unhappy about being covered in water. Luke fell silent, still annoyed, as we moved on. The second stream we came to looked a good deal deeper and faster. There was no wood golem in the way, luckily for us.

"…Okay, I'm not crossing that one. It looks like you'd get swept away," Luke said. He tossed a leaf in, and it was whisked away at once.

"Agreed. How are we going to get over there…?" Tear said, looking around. Unlike in the game, there was no partially-rotted tree on the other side that we'd have to bring down with Mieu's fire.

However, there was a partially rotted tree on this side.

"Tear, can you hold Mieu and my staff for a second?" I asked, going up to the Seventh Fonist. She took the cheagle and staff, looking mildly puzzled.

"What are you going to do?" she said, as I walked over to the tree.

"This! Is! SPARTA!" I yelled, bringing my leg up and kicking the tree with all the strength in my little Ion body. It creaked, then started to fall. Luke and Tear watched, shocked, as the tree fell over the stream and made a perfect bridge. There was a minute of silence.

"…You just kicked down a tree! That was so cool!" Luke cheered, breaking the silence.

"Impressive. But what exactly is a 'Sparta'?" Tear asked. Oh dear… I hadn't thought of that.

"Who cares? We have ligers to meet!" Luke said, hopping up onto the tree and starting across. Tear sighed, and gave back my staff and Mieu, though she seemed reluctant to give up the cheagle. She followed Luke, and I hurried after her. On the other side of the stream, a small liger was laying there, sleeping. It opened one eye to look at us, then decided it was too lazy to do anything and went back to sleep. We continued walking, going mostly unnoticed by the ligers, though one did attack us and Luke whacked it with the flat side of Talia's sword. It fled.

Before too long, we had arrived at the liger den. A few ligers stood by the entrance, and growled as we approached.

"Mieu, tell them that we have come for peaceful negotiations with their queen," I said, picking the cheagle up off my shoulder by the scruff of his neck.

"O-Okay!" Mieu squeaked, before 'mieu'-ing at the ligers. They exchanged glances, then parted to let us through. One of them gave a low rumbling meow.

"What did it say?" I asked Mieu as we walked through.

"He says that we're probably going to get ripped to shreds, but he'll let us through since it saves them the trouble," Mieu squeaked, sounding a little scared.

"Don't worry. We're all going to be okay," Tear said reassuringly.

It wasn't a very long walk down to where the liger queen was. I gulped nervously, and crossed my fingers for luck. We stepped out into the cavern where the liger queen was.

The liger queen was huge- easily twice Luke's height, and she was laying down. She lifted her huge head, and narrowed her eyes as she looked at us.

"Mieu… tell her that we're here to try to negotiate a change in the current arrangement with the cheagles," I said, holding up the little cheagle. Mieu nodded, and 'mieu'-ed at the liger. She roared, shaking the cavern and nearly knocking me off my feet.

"S-She says she isn't interested, and we deserve it, and if we don't leave now, she'll feed us to her babies. Her eggs are going to hatch soon," Mieu said, looking up at me.

"This isn't good… ligers are especially vicious when tending their eggs, and ligers often attack people to feed their young," Tear said. "If things go on as they are, Engeve doesn't stand a chance, and neither do the cheagles…"

I was struck with a sudden inspiration.

"Mieu, tell her that I know an arte that can destroy all of her eggs, and if she doesn't listen to us, I will kill every one of her babies," I said. Luke and Tear both looked at me like I was insane.

"Fon Master, if you were to use another Daathic arte, you could seriously hurt yourself, maybe even die," Tear said.

"I'm hoping she won't call my bluff," I said. "Mieu, only tell her what I told you to say."

"Y-Yes!" Mieu said. He 'mieu'-ed out the message. There was a dead silence. I held my breath, hoping this would work.

The liger queen slowly stood up, getting to her feet and facing us directly. I held my ground, managing to keep the fact that I was panicking inside hidden. She could probably kill me just by stepping on me…

* * *

EVILCLIFFHANGER GO


	7. The Liger Queen

Story resumes from cliffhanger now!

* * *

…but she didn't.

The liger queen let out a rumbling growl, but it was nothing like her huge roar.

"She says you fight dirty, but she'll listen to what you have to say," Mieu said. Wow… I really had not expected that. I thought for a minute. What could I ask the ligers to have the cheagles do that would be more fair…? And help keep Engeve safe?

"Tell her… tell her that maybe instead of having to bring the ligers food or be eaten, the cheagles could help them rebuild their territory in the northern forest, plant new plants, set up traps around the forest to catch things the ligers can eat, and assist them in moving back up north once the forest has recovered enough from the fire," I said. It sounded reasonable enough- and if they were moving away from Engeve, they'd be less likely to go that way for food. Mieu nodded, and relayed my message. Luke and Tear just watched, probably worried that they would mess things up if they got involved.

The liger queen responded with another low-pitched sound.

"She says that it's a deal, with the condition that once it's over and the ligers have finished moving back to the northern forest, no cheagles can go to that forest again so there won't be another fire," Mieu relayed back, blinking up at me.

"Tell her we agree. Even if that was unfair, which I doubt it is, if it'll get her to agree to the new arrangement, then it's worth it," I said. Mieu gave a couple of short 'mieu's, and the liger queen moved back to where she had been, laying beside her eggs. She looked up, and gave a quiet, soft roar.

"Whoa… that was unbelievable, Ion!" Luke said.

"Wait. She says she respects your intelligence, and wants you to take one of her eggs with you and teach the baby to be as smart as you are," Mieu said, hopping to get my attention.

"Me…?" I asked, though of course she meant me. Duh.

"Yeah. She wants you to come over there," Mieu said. I gulped, hesitant to approach the liger queen, but I stepped forward, not letting my nervousness show.

"Fon Master, that's dangerous…" Tear started, but I was already approaching her. She moved aside slightly, and I could see that there were at least twenty eggs in the large nest. She nudged one on the outside edge.

"She says to take that one," Mieu said.

"Okay. Tell her I thank her for this opportunity, and I'll raise this liger to the best of my ability," I said. I knelt down, and carefully took the smooth, dry egg into my arms. The blue cheagle 'mieu'-ed the message to the liger queen, and she gave a slight nod as I stepped back.

"We should go tell the other cheagles about this," Mieu said.

"Right. That way, the new arrangement can begin at once," I said. I turned, and began to walk away, Mieu following at my heels like a puppy. A smaller liger that I hadn't noticed was in the room darted out past us, giving a sharp meow as it passed.

"He's going to tell the other ligers what happened so they don't try to hurt us," Mieu explained.

"Man… Ion, that was awesome! You just coolly stood your ground, came up with that idea all at once, and even got her to agree… you didn't even look scared, and you were right in front of that huge monster!" Luke exclaimed. "And you got that egg… man, you weren't even shaking!"

"Fon Master, that was extremely reckless… but I must admit, the way you handled the situation was impressive," Tear said. We exited the liger den, and though we got weird looks from the ligers we saw, none of them attacked us. They mostly just stayed out of our way. As we were crossing my log bridge…

"My, what's this? Tear, and Luke, and the Fon Master carrying an egg?" a familiar voice said.

"Jade! You won't believe what just happened!" I said, going to him at once.

"Oh… it's that guy," Luke muttered. Tear elbowed him. "Ow…"

I quickly explained to Jade what had happened, not giving any details on Talia's death even though I did mention it, and finished with, "So we have to go tell the cheagles what happened."

"Hmm. I suppose I could let you go with them to explain things to the cheagles. You shouldn't do things like this, though," Jade said, giving me a stern look. "You're lucky I wasn't particularly fond of Talia. She always referred to me as 'darling'."

At that moment, a distraction occurred in the form of Anise running over.

"Thank goodness you found him, Colonel!" she said on seeing me. "…Why does Ion have an egg?"

"I'll tell you later. Anise, can you do me a favor?" Jade said. He leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"…Sure thing, Colonel!" she said before darting off. Oh yeah… Luke and Tear were about to get arrested. Oops.

"Well. Shall I accompany you to deliver the message to the cheagles?" Jade said with an amused smirk.

"Of course!" I said, before Luke could whine. Tear didn't seem to care, and so we walked off, back to the huge tree.

I swear, it looked even bigger the second time around.

Jade looked up, and casually remarked, "My, that is a rather large tree." …yeah, Jade does that. A lot.

"That's what Ion and I said," Luke sighed. Soon, we were back inside. I let Mieu do the explaining- he could probably pass the message on better than we could anyways. After a bit, Mieu looked up.

"The cheagle elder says that even with this solved, I still have to be punished. So he wants me to come with you and help you out for a cycle of seasons, mister Ion," Mieu said.

"I don't mind it. You could come in handy," I said, letting myself smile. No Mieu for Luke.

"Well. With that settled, shall we be going?" Jade asked. Everyone nodded, and we left. I was still carrying my liger egg, and Mieu trotted along beside me while we stuck to the back of the group.

Soon, we had arrived back at the entrance to the cheagle Woods, where Anise and a few Malkuth soldiers were waiting. I purposely trailed a bit further behind, so I wouldn't get involved.

"Hi, Colonel! We brought the Tartarus around like you said to," Anise said.

"Good job, Anise," Jade said to the short dark-haired guardian. He then turned to the soldiers. "By the way. The redhead and the light-haired girl? Arrest them, they're the ones responsible for the burst of Seventh Fonons."

"Whaaat?" Luke exclaimed as his sword was snatched away and his hands held behind his back.

"Please don't hurt them, Colonel," I said from behind Jade.

"Oh, I won't… assuming they don't resist," Jade said, before leading them out to the landship.

* * *

Now things are starting to go towards the more interesting section of the story...


	8. Van Is A Naughty Boy

Not much to say here, Luke is annoying, Ion usually never curses.

* * *

I ignored Luke's indignant complaints as Jade dragged both of them onto the Tartarus, more worried about something else. Going through the early game story in my head, I hit a sudden realization and cursed aloud.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me.

"Whoa, Ion knows cuss words!" Luke said, shocked.

"Where did you learn that word, Ion?" Anise asked, looking like she was going to rip out the throat of whoever's name I gave.

"Um. I heard Van say it, and it was easy enough to figure out what it meant," I said, blinking at everyone with an innocent expression. I could practically hear Anise making a mental note to hurt Van.

"And what exactly were you thinking that made you say this?" Jade asked.

"If it was about you accidentally leaving your staff at the liger den, I actually brought it," Tear said. "Though I can't exactly get it out and give it to you…"

"Oh. Phew. Thanks, Tear, I owe you," I said, pretending to be relieved. In actuality, I hadn't noticed that I had forgotten my staff. I had just remembered that very soon, I was going to be kidnapped and forced to open a couple of Daathic seals on the Sephiroth. Joy. I hadn't thought much of this stuff when I was playing the game, since Luke's side was going to have their own troubles, but considering what it felt like after using that Daathic arte… bad. Bad.

It wasn't too long before Jade had put the two of them down on chairs in a small meeting room, and was sitting across the table. I sat down on the floor in the corner, not caring that Anise would rather have me in a chair, and absently stroked the shell of the liger egg while I listened to them talk. Jade told them that they had illegally crossed the border because of the hyperresonance, Luke protested it was an accident, Tear told him that she was an Oracle Knight, Luke shared his real identity… After a minute, I interrupted.

"Jade? We could ask for their help, you know," I piped up from my patch of floor. Jade gave me an unreadable look.

"Help with what? You've got the freaking Malkuth military!" Luke said.

"We're actually headed for Baticul with a letter from our emperor, Peony the Ninth. We are trying to prevent a war between our country of Malkuth and your Kimlasca," Jade explained. "Even as emissaries of peace, it would be hard to get into Kimlasca without being attacked. We could use the help of a Kimlascan noble…"

"So you just want me to help you get in so you can see my uncle?" Luke asked.

"Precisely. Of course, it's not quite that simple… for classified reasons, Grand Maestro Mohs of the Order of Lorelei is trying to incite war. We had quite a time getting the Fon Master out of Daath," Jade said.

"What? Why would Mohs want to start a war?" Tear asked, alarmed. "He wouldn't…"

"I'm sorry, we really can't tell you right now," I said.

"If you really need my help, you should learn to bow your head in respect before you ask for a favor like that," Luke said. Man, he was a jerk. I really wanted to go over and have Mieu torch his head.

"LUKE!" Tear said, clearly exasperated. Jade stood up, and walked over to stand beside Luke's chair. He knelt down, head lowered.

"Colonel…" Anise and I sighed simultaneously. She glanced at me oddly, but said nothing.

"Sir Luke, would you please lend us your aid?" Jade said, tone vaguely amused. I couldn't imagine why.

"Man, do you have any pride?" Luke asked flatly.

"None so petty as to be shaken by something like this," Jade said, still sounding amused.

"Fine, I'll do it," Luke said. "It can't be that hard, all I have to do is make sure my uncle talks to you."

"Ah, good. You can look around the ship if you want," Jade said. He stood up, and took off the handcuffs they had put on Luke and Tear. I turned to the cheagle sitting next to me.

"Hey. Mieu. Think you can go hang out with Tear for the rest of the day and listen to her? She'd really like it," I said.

"Yes, sir!" Mieu said. He bounced over to Tear, and tugged on her clothes. She looked down.

"What is it, Mieu?" she said. I could tell she was happy to have the cute little thing talking to her.

"Ion wants me to go with you for the rest of the day! I don't know why, but he said it would make you happy!" he squeaked. Tear chuckled, and picked him up.

"Ion is very right. Shall we go look around?" Tear said. I grinned as I watched her leave with Mieu. This served two purposes- Tear would really like me, and they'd have Mieu in case they needed him. I really, really didn't want to get kidnapped, but if I didn't get taken right away, they'd just take me from the group later. This in mind, I stood up and walked back to my room. Anise tagged along with Luke, while Jade just stayed around. I found an empty bag similar to a backpack, though with a flap over the top instead of zippers along the sides, under my bed. Useful… I stuffed my sleeping clothes and a spare of my outfit in, then put in the liger egg and positioned my clothes around it to cushion it. Just as I was putting the backpack on, I heard a knock at my door. I opened it to find Tear there, Mieu on her shoulder. How cute.

"Fon Master, I have your staff… I thought you'd want it back," she said, offering me my tuning-fork-tipped staff.

"Thank you very much, Tear," I said, taking it with a nod. "And please, just call me Ion. I don't mind it, since you're my friend." I made sure to give a cutesy smile as I looked up at her. She was pretty tall for a girl. Tear blushed slightly.

"Ah… Of course. Take care, Ion," she said. She turned and left. I followed her out, but turned to go the other way- I pretty much had to go up to the deck and wait to get kidnapped. Whoopee.

* * *

A certain Solana dreads an upcoming event.


	9. Ion Is A Freaking Damsel In Distress

The moment arrives...

* * *

I sat on the top of the Tartarus for what felt like hours. Everyone passed by me at least once, but they didn't disturb me. Leaning sideways against a railing, I eventually fell asleep.

I was woken by someone roughly shaking me.

"Huhwhat?" I said, jolting awake at once. To my embarrassment, the front of my outfit was covered in drool. I looked up, and found myself facing Legretta the Quick, the no-nonsense sniper of the God-Generals.

"Hello there, Fon Master. Enjoying your little field trip?" she said.

"Hi, Legretta. Please don't kidnap me, I'm having fun with my new friends," I said, looking up at her. It was a stupid thing to say, really…

"Yes, you're certainly having fun drooling on yourself. Get up," Legretta said in response. She didn't look amused at all. I stood up without arguing and picked up my staff. Around me, I could see several ligers and griffins attacking Malkuth soldiers… just like Talia… but I didn't have long to ponder this, as the sniper signaled a huge bird-monster. She got on its back, then yanked me up onto the bird.

"Where are we going…?" I asked.

"We're going to the Absorption Gate. Sync will be joining us," she said. Wait… Legretta didn't do this in the game, though I didn't doubt that the destination was the same. I guess they were really serious about not letting Arietta find out I wasn't the real thing. The bird pumped its wings twice and we were in the air. I gave a startled squeak and clung to Legretta. I had always been a little nervous when flying, and when riding animals (horses really frightened me). This was, as a result, terrifying. She looked back over her shoulder at me, with an expression that clearly said 'are you serious?'

"I-I'm scared of heights… a-and riding animals," I said, edging closer to Legretta. She sighed, and ignored the fact that I was clinging to her back for dear life.

Those bird-things are insanely fast. I looked down after a while of flying, and could see Grand Chokmah near the horizon. Wow. Of course, I also paled from the height and pressed myself against Legretta.

"Will you please give me some personal space?" she snapped.

"S-Sorry… I looked down," I whimpered. I moved away a little bit, though I was still sort of holding on to her. The sniper gave an exasperated sigh.

"We're picking up Sync now. Don't fall," she said. She tapped the bird on the head twice and pointed down, and the monster obediently started to fly lower, coasting downwards until it finally touched down in a field. I could see Rugnica's northern beach… we had really covered a lot of distance. It felt like only an hour or two. Legretta shoved me off of her, and jumped down from the bird. I carefully got off myself.

"…So, where is he…?" I said, looking around. There was no sign of him. "If we're early, can I take a restroom break…?"

"If you need to, there are some bushes over there," the female God-General said. As I scurried off into the indicated bushes, I could hear her give an exasperated sigh again.

It wouldn't have been worth trying to run away. When I returned a minute later, Legretta was sitting on the grass, watching the sky. I went over and followed her gaze, trying to figure out what she was looking at. The beautiful fonstones in the sky were visible, and with some clouds around them, there was a semblance of Van's head in the sky.

"The sky looks like Van," I stated. Legretta looked up at me, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"You talk too much. If you're going to be speaking, don't you at least have anything interesting to say?" she said. She quickly got up, brushing some grass off her clothes as she stood. I thought for a moment. Hmm… I'd love to see her reaction to the story of Tales Of Symphonia, Night Wizard, or any other story with a well-intentioned extremist as the main villain.

"I could tell you a story," I offered. "I know some really good ones that nobody else knows." Legretta looked surprised, and paused to consider this.

"Why on Auldrant is that trying to tell you a story?" a voice eerily like my own said. Sync walked over, arms crossed.

"Big brother! You're alive!" I said, earning a really confused look from both God-Generals as I ran towards Sync. I had always thought it would be hilarious if Ion referred to Sync as 'big brother' and made a big deal of him not being dead since he was an older replica. Now, I got to make it happen. I threw my arms around Sync in a hug. Legretta raised an eyebrow as Sync froze up in my arms.

"…'Big brother'?" Legretta said.

"What the hell? Let go of me!" Sync growled.

"But… but I was sure they'd killed you… I'm so glad one of my brothers made it! I knew there was a God-General by the name Sync… but if I'd known you were my brother this whole time, another Ion replica, I wouldn't have had to be so sad inside!" I said. I made it as sincere as possible, just tightening my hug. Sync looked completely shocked.

"…Legretta. Help," he finally managed. I had managed to thoroughly confuse Sync within two minutes of meeting him.

"Fon Master, you should let go of him," she said, though at this point she was biting back a chuckle.

"I haven't seen my brother in two years and you want me to just stop hugging him before I'm ready?" I said, widening my eyes in a disbelieving expression. At this, she let out a laugh, earning a glare from Sync.

"…Sync, why don't you hug your little brother back?" she said.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY, LEGRETTA!" Sync snapped. At this point, I freed Sync from the hug and took a step back.

"…So, should I tell a story on the way or not?" I said.

"Whatever," Sync growled. Legretta seemed to be in a much better mood, though.

"All right, Fon Master. Let's see what kind of story you've got," she said as we got back on the bird, Sync in the front with Legretta sitting right behind him and me holding on in back.

* * *

Solana has succeeded in confusing Sync, amusing Legretta, and getting to tell a story.

So you know, she chose to share the story of Night Wizard: the Animation, a very short, very obscure, but very good anime. I suggest watching it~


	10. Tales Of Night Wizard

Please don't read this chapter if you don't want very, very serious Night Wizard The Animation spoilers. I'll summarize it minus those spoilers at the bottom for those more interested in skipping that.

* * *

As we flew, I managed to distract myself from my fear of heights and riding an animal by telling the story of Night Wizard. Legretta seemed quite interested, and would sometimes cut in with questions about how things worked, like the Lunar Robes and the artifacts. I explained them as well as I could before continuing on with the plot.

"…At last, they went to claim the seventh Jewel, the Jewel of Hope, which was in the icy rings of another planet called Saturn. They flew out into space, with an army of wizards accompanying them. A mighty battle ensued, the Demon Lords Bell-Zephyr and Rion themselves fighting against the Night Wizards. The wizards took a lot of damage, but they were able to recover the gem. They gave it to Elis. At last, she had all seven gems," I said. On the horizon, I could see energy swirling down towards a single point. We were nearing the Absorption Gate. Sync was pretending not to be interested, but I noticed him tilting his head to try to listen better without looking interested. Lame.

"What happened after that? Did they get away safely?" Legretta said, entranced by the story.

"Something strange and terrible happened after Elis received the seventh gem. Instead of the blue light in her one eye fading, the other eye took on an eerie red light. Gazer had lied to Anzelotte the entire time. Elis uttered the words, 'My light… destroy everything'. Her bracelet activated by itself, and against her will, she destroyed many things before passing out," I continued. I paused to remember it before going on. "She woke to find herself in a locked room in the Night Wizard headquarters. She was truly the Demon Lord Shaimaral, powers sealed by taking away the gems. With the gems returned, the true Shaimaral wanted to destroy everything. All her childhood memories were false. Renji and Kureha broke in to rescue Elis, because they believed in her. Akari sided with Anzelotte. They took Elis back to the orphanage, but since her memories were false, nobody knew her. They continued to flee, only Kureha and Renji's hope in her keeping her from sinking into despair."

"W…What? Is that really how it goes…?" a stunned Legretta said. She hadn't been expecting that. The bird we were on started to fly lower, going towards the island that was now solidly within view. Dang, that was a fast bird.

"Yes, really. After a time, they ran into Akari, who was supposed to kill Elis, but hesitated because of the time they had spent together. Before she could make up her mind, Kirihito appeared. He revealed himself to be Gazer… and the person who had been sending Elis the letters, her mysterious 'uncle'. Her heart was broken, and then Kirihito cruelly murdered Kureha. This was too much for Elis, and she fell into despair. Shaimaral took over, and the bracelet's shields swallowed her up and created a huge dragon that began to destroy everything, though it passed over Akari, Renji, and Kureha's body," I continued. Sync had stopped pretending to be uninterested at this point.

"…We're landing now. You can continue when we're on the ground," Legretta said as the bird dipped down. The island was snowy, and admittedly beautiful. We landed on the path leading up to the Daathic seal, and the two God-Generals and I got off of the bird's back.

"Hey. Open that, will you?" Sync said, gesturing to the Daathic seal ahead. I gulped, but walked forward. I decided to continue the story as we walked.

"The Demon Lords had been lied to as well. Rion's book of prophecy was all Kirihito's lies. Renji and Akari took Kureha's body back to Anzelotte. Bell-Zephyr and Rion had fled there, hoping for help to stop Shaimaral. If everything was destroyed, they would have nothing. Anzelotte tried to bring Kureha back to life, but her power wasn't enough. She was growing exhausted. Suddenly, Rion appeared, and she used her power to help Anzelotte revive Kureha. The emulator and wizard together succeeded, and Kureha was alive again," I said. …Did I hear Legretta give a small sigh of relief at that last sentence? Oh well. I then stopped. I was right in front of the seal. I knew how to do it… I didn't want to, though, but I really had no choice. I put my hands out, and let energy flow into me. I shaped it with my mind, as easily as a hand shapes clay, and the seal opened before my eyes. As the energy left me, though, a sudden spasm of pain and weakness hit me, and I collapsed to my knees.

"…t-too bad Anzelotte isn't here to make me stop hurting, though…" I hissed under my breath, clutching at my chest. My staff had fallen to the ground beside me. To my surprise, Sync and Legretta both helped pull me to my feet, and Legretta retrieved my staff for me. I blinked twice, unsure of what to say, then uttered a quick "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah. You'd better finish that story on the way back," Sync said.

"I knew you were paying attention," Legretta said with a smirk. Sync turned his head away- it was hard to tell if he was averting his gaze with that mask over his eyes.

"J-Just get on the damn bird!" With those words, Sync hopped back on our avian steed. Legretta wordlessly followed, and I shuffled after them. My heart was fluttering rapidly, and I still felt fairly weak, but leaning on my staff as I walked helped. I made it back onto the bird, and held on to Legretta as we took off.

"So, keep going with that story," Sync said.

"Renji took a borrowed broom, and broke into the hollow dragon body of Shaimaral to bring Elis's mind back in control. When he reached Elis suspended inside, he forced her to wake up. She panicked, and told him that she didn't deserve the world because it was her fault Kureha was dead. But Akari and Kureha flew near on another borrowed broom, and Elis saw that Kureha was alive, and gained her senses back. Kirihito, in rage that his plan was upset, started to fight, but since he was so powerful, nothing could hurt him. Anzelotte and Bell-Zephyr couldn't scratch him. But Elis used Shaimaral's powers to attack Kirihito, destroying both the bracelet and Kirihito forever. Renji graduated from school, the demon lords returned to their world with intent to fight again another day, and Akari, Kureha, Elis, and Renji lived on as friends in their saved world," I said. That was it; the story was over. There was silence for several minutes.

"…I'm glad it ended the way it did, though I certainly didn't expect Kirihito to be Gazer or for Anzelotte and Bell-Zephyr to both be misled," Legretta said, clearly impressed. Sync was silent, taking the story in.

"Hey. Legretta. What if Van was Kirihito?" he said after a long pause. Legretta just looked confused. "…never mind." The rest of the flight passed in silence, and I avoided looking down as much as possible. It was rather late afternoon when at last we landed near the Tartarus, but not on it.

"...It seems that the Tartarus has shut down," Legretta said as we got off the bird again. It flew away after this, its job done. I was leaning on my staff quite a lot, as both not having eaten all day and the Daathic seal were causing me to have a major headache and a slight stomachache. They started to take me to the ship, where I hoped that this next bit would go a lot like the game…

* * *

Summary minus Night Wizard spoilers: Legretta and Sync take Solana-Ion to Absorption Gate while he (I'll refer to Solana-Ion as male for ease of use) tells them the story of Night Wizard. Legretta is very interested, Sync pretends not to be even though he is too. Solana-Ion opens the Daathic seal, Sync and Legretta help him up after he collapses, he finishes the story on the way back to the Tartarus, they land outside the Tartarus, and start to approach it.


	11. Did You Just Punch Out A God General

In this chapter, an unlikely prisoner is taken, and Guy joins us.

* * *

As the Tartarus's emergency hatch opened, Sync having walked up to open it, he was greeted with a burst of flame to the head, courtesy of Mieu. He jumped back.

"AAAUGH! What the hell?" Sync yelled. The fire had gotten under his mask, and he was clutching at his face. Luke, Tear, and Jade rushed out. Legretta whipped out one of her guns, and in an instant aimed the sleek silver-and-black muzzle at Luke. Before she could fire, though, she glanced down to see Jade was there, the blade of his lance at her throat. Before Sync could recover, Luke bravely trotted to him and kicked him in the gut. The masked God-General lashed out and punched Luke in the jaw. Soon, Sync found himself darting around, trying to avoid being skewered on Luke's sword.

"W-Wait, Luke, don't stab big brother…!" I cried. Everyone except Legretta and Jade stopped and looked at me; Legretta was in the process of backing up onto the Tartarus, Jade forcing her back with his spear.

"Big brother?" Tear and Luke asked simultaneously.

"You actually care?" Sync questioned.

"Of course I care! Even if you don't… even if big brother thinks he's not worth saving, I want my brother to be okay! And not stabbed!" I said. Luke had crept up on Sync during this time, and raised his sword to whack Sync with the flat of the blade.

"…Ion, you really don't understa-" Sync started, before Luke hit him in the back of the head with all he had. "GAH!" He collapsed, knocked out by the strike.

"I would have liked to hear the rest of that," I sighed.

"Sync!" Legretta said, standing at the door. She didn't move to do anything, though, seeing as she was still cornered by Jade.

"Luke, Tear, do either of you have some rope on you?" Jade asked as he forced Legretta inside and closed the door.

"Yes, Colonel, I do… why do you ask?" Tear said.

"Be a good soldier and tie Sync up for me, will you?" Jade asked. "I'd like to ask him about his relation to Ion later." Tear nodded, and produced a long rope from under her dress. How did she even make that stay…? Ah well. She knelt beside the unconscious Sync, and quickly bound his arms behind his back. She then tied a rope around his legs just above the knee, so he could walk when he woke up but not run or kick without tripping himself.

"Impressive job," Jade said as he walked over. "Now, shall we be on our way? I think the next logical course of action is to head for St. Binah, to get a message back to the Emperor about the state of the Tartarus. Luke, why don't you carry Ion's 'brother'?"

"Okay," Luke sighed. He grabbed the unconscious Sync and tossed him over his shoulder. At that moment, there was a call from nearby.

"Having fun on your adventure, Luke?" a voice said. I turned to see, as did the others, Guy approaching. He was a good deal taller than me, and his yellow vest and hair made him really stand out.

"Guy! Man, am I glad to see you!" Luke said, getting a grin on his face. "We were just leaving here, actually…"

"Yes, you can introduce yourself while we walk," an amused Jade said. As everybody started to walk off, Jade leading the way, Tear hung back by me. She still had Mieu on her shoulder.

"Ion. You look awful. What did they do to you?" she said, looking down at me with a worried expression. I couldn't help but notice that her dress really, really looked like a violin.

"Your dress looks like a violin," I blurted out, probably worrying her even more. "…Oh, um, they made me open a special seal that only a Fon Master can unlock… but now my head hurts."

"You look really tired. You should be the one being carried, not your brother," Mieu said. I started after the group, using my staff as a walking stick.

"Thanks, Mieu, but I can walk," I said, faking a smile. The Seventh Fonist and cheagle didn't seem convinced, but they followed the group without saying anything regardless.

After we'd been walking for a bit, though, I was getting really dizzy. I missed a step, and fell down.

"Oww," I muttered, too out of it to react more strongly.

"Let's take a break. The Fon Master doesn't seem to be doing too well," Jade suggested. We had been walking on the plains, with the occasional patch of forest, but at that point we were in a small valley formed by two hills. Tear helped me move to sit up against a rock, with my bag beside me.

"Do we have any food?" I asked. Tear glanced at Luke, who put Sync down on the ground by me. He then reached into a pocket hidden in one of his jacket tails, and pulled out some apples. Everybody got one, including me, but when I went to bite it, I recoiled with a yelp.

"Ion, are you okay?" Guy asked. Jade and Luke had explained everything to Guy, so he knew who I was.

"I-I'm sorry, I bit wrong with my loose tooth. I should really just get that out," I said.

"Aww, the young Fon Master has a loose tooth," Jade said in a sickeningly sweet tone. I ignored him, and pulled hard on the tooth. It tore free, but it hurt, and I gave another yelp. I could taste blood in my mouth- the gap was bleeding. I glared at the annoying tooth in my hand- there was a bit of pink gum tissue still attached. Ick.

"Here, I'll heal it," Tear offered. I gave her a very grateful look as she put her hand to the side of my face, and she didn't seem to have used up any energy at all, even though the new gap in my teeth had stopped hurting and stopped bleeding.

"Thank you, Tear, I'm in your debt even more now," I said, smiling at her. She looked away, embarrassed, and I took the opportunity to attack my apple. After a few minutes of not paying attention to the others, Jade tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up from my apple, reduced to the very center, even less than you'd usually leave behind.

"Ion. You referred to Sync as your brother earlier. Would you care to elaborate on that?" he said.

I gulped. This was going to be fun to explain.

* * *

Solana/Ion finally loses that loose tooth, and the plot is heavily off track.


	12. Sync Hates You

Our hero reveals one story, but not the other...

* * *

Jade had gathered everyone to listen to my explanation, with the exception of Sync since he was still out cold.

"I am not the original Fon Master Ion. I'm a replica, created through forbidden fomicry by Van and Grand Maestro Mohs since the original was dying," I started. This got me some 'what-the-heck' looks right off the bat.

"They were using _fomicry_?" Jade said, eyes narrowed and looking very, very displeased. "On a person?"

"Mohs…?" Tear said, now even more confused. She had trusted him, after all.

"What does this have to do with-" Luke started.

"I was the seventh replica made. The first six were all inadequate replacements, due to lacking certain powers or not being strong enough to even show a semblance of those powers. Sync… was the fifth replica made. Since he was made before me, in the same group… I consider him my brother," I said. "…I had thought that all the others were killed. But he survived, somehow."

"Man… that's pretty sad. I feel kinda sorry for him… and you, too," Guy said, folding his arms.

"This would explain why you are so damaged by your own Daathic artes," Jade said. He had returned to his usual calm demeanor. "Ion, how old are you? Not physically, but how long ago were you made?"

"…I was created about two years ago," I said, glancing away. It was so easy to tell Ion's story as if I was the real thing, I knew it so well, and having his voice helped a lot. Jade didn't even suspect anything, or if he did, it didn't show.

"Ugh… my head…" Sync moaned, twitching slightly. He spat out a tooth- the same one I had just yanked out, only from him instead. More confirmation that we were the same. He realized that he was tied up when he tried to lift a hand to his head, and started to struggle. "H-Hey! What the hell?"

"Are you going to tell us why you were kidnapping Ion?" Luke said, looking at him with narrowed eyes. The redhead was probably ticked that Sync was involved in killing people.

"I'm not going to tell YOU anything! You hit me over the head with a sword!" Sync snarled. "If I wasn't tied up, I'd punch you so hard they'd find you in Daath!"

"That's not nice, big brother," I said, looking down at him.

"Shut up," he said. I sighed, and moved over so I was kneeling by his head. I had recovered enough that I could move. I grabbed his mask, and yanked it off before moving back to my nice comfy spot. Though even laying on his side, his hair covered one of his eyes, everyone could now see his face that was just like mine but for the furious expression and the slight burns around his eyes.

"I. Hate. All of you," Sync said, his pine-green eyes narrowed in a glare. I slipped the other replica's mask onto my own face. It stayed on, and it was actually comfortable. I cleared my throat loudly, and everyone turned to look at me. Heheh... it probably wasn't a good idea to provoke Sync any more, but I couldn't resist.

"Hi, I'm Sync the Tempest! I think I'm completely expendable, I angst over being a replica who wasn't good enough, and I hate my little brother and all his friends! I also like stories, even though I refuse to admit it, and I'm the world's cruelest two-year-old!" I said, in an overly cheerful tone. Jade laughed, though it seemed a bit fake, Luke actually laughed, and Tear just stared.

"I HATE YOU! GO DIE!" Sync yelled, completely enraged.

"It's okay, big brother, I was just teasing," I said. I reached over and patted him on the head. He turned his head sharply and bit down hard on my hand. "...AAAH! HE BIT ME!" I yanked my hand out of his mouth. Yikes... the deepest toothmarks were starting to bleed.

"Ion! Here, let me heal that for you-" Tear started.

"No, no, leave it. Big brother's hurt too, and he probably won't let you heal him," I said. Really, it was just a little bitemark. Nothing serious. The light falling around us was starting to take on an orange glow, and I glanced at the sky. The sun was starting to set. "...It's getting late. Should we stop here, or try to get to St. Binah...?"

"We'll stop here for the night. Sync can't run away if we use the remaining rope to tie him to a nearby tree, so we can leave him alone and not worry," Jade said. He walked over to do so.

"I'm going to scream all night until an Oracle Knight comes to get me out of here so I can kill you," Sync growled as Jade tied him to the lone tree growing nearby. Jade took off one of his gloves and stuffed it in Sync's mouth, then took a spare belt out of a hidden pocket in his clothes and put it around the other replica's head so he couldn't spit it out.

"No, I think you won't," Jade replied with a smirk. Furious muffled noises could be heard from the tied-up replica.

After that, everybody went to sleep, except Jade and Guy. The Colonel stayed up to keep watch, and Guy stayed nearby so Jade could wake him up and he could take a shift watching. Tear settled down comfortably in a patch of thick grass, while I curled up with my backpack and Mieu, and Guy and Luke found their own patches of ground.

Aside from the obvious discomfort of Sync, everyone seemed fine. It was rather nice...

* * *

Next chapter will be a bonus chapter- where exactly did Ion's mind go, huh?


	13. Bonus Chapter: Solar and Lunar

This chapter is from the point of view of Ion's mind in Solana's body. There are fonons and people have fon slots, for a reason that I'll reveal eventually.

* * *

For once, I woke up without being shaken awake by Anise. It was a strange feeling, really, to wake up on my own and sit up, rub my eyes, and stretch a bit. I was so used to being forced out of my rest by Anise… I honestly missed it.

However, it soon became clear that there was a problem.

I was in an unfamiliar room, on a sofa. The walls were painted a pale cream, and there was a strange large box with a flat black surface on a shelf, with black vinelike strings connecting it to a smaller black box and to the wall.

Also worrying was the fact that my fon slots were closed. I never consciously shut myself off from the world's fonons, and I couldn't sense anything this way. It felt like losing a sense, like suddenly going deaf. I closed my eyes and tried to force my fon slots open- it involves concentrating hard, and trying to force your energy out of several points in your body and drawing it back in once the points open. It hurt, strangely, similar to the first time I had ever felt the world's fonons, but I managed to get it to work.

This was the point where I noticed that my body wasn't exactly my body.

For some strange reason, I was wearing tan pants and a pink shirt… and I was female, just a single glance down could tell me that. In addition, my skin was much paler than normal, about the same as an albino boy I had seen once.

I stared at myself for a few minutes. What… had happened…? I was sure that Fon Masters didn't typically wake up as girls in an unfamiliar room. I stood up, a bit shaky on my feet since the balance was a bit off but managing it well. I felt stronger, sturdier than usual… so weird. I looked around, and located the door.

-later-

I had managed to figure out a few things.

One. I had been transported into the body of a girl named Solana. She had fairly average grades in school, which she was currently on break from. Her best friend had nicknamed her Solar, and the friend was usually referred to as Lunar. A rather cute joke, I thought.

Two. This was not Auldrant. The planet's name was Earth, though I could still sense fonons after forcing my fon slots open. The fact that I even had them showed something. The alphabet was identical to one of Auldrant's two alphabets, so I could read.

Three. Auldrant was known to this world as a location in a fictional story in a format called a video game. It was quite unnerving to find my deepest secrets exposed to anybody who cared to look it up.

I knew this because soon after starting to look around, I ran into a slim and rather pretty blond girl, who referred to me as Solar and started to drag me off. My squeak of alarm was enough to tell her something was not right, and so she asked me to tell her everything. I did, and though she was disbelieving at first, my total obliviousness towards several things around was enough to convince her.

Well, that and helping her open her fon slots. She had wanted to do that as soon as she knew it was possible. It hurt her a bit, but her reaction to being able to feel the fonons around her was heartwarming to see.

While she was explaining the timeline my world was going to take, which honestly scared me a bit, there was a ringing noise that filled the entire building we were in.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Oh. Doorbell. That's weird… nobody ever comes here but me, and the door isn't even locked," Lunar (whose real name was Luci) said, blinking. "…Hey. Sola- uh, Ion. I have a bad feeling about this. We're sneaking out the back, okay?"

"S-Sure…" I said. She didn't hesitate to grab my hand and start to run off, pulling me after her. I kept up as well as I could, and managed not to stumble. She led me out a door, onto a paved porch. The surrounding area was mostly several houses, with lots of trees. She signaled for me to be quiet, and started to creep around the side of the house we had just left. I followed her, not knowing what else to do. There was a strange vehicle that looked like a big white block with wheels, and several very official-looking people at the door.

"We have to isolate the test subject's body so that the target's consciousness won't panic… why is nobody answering the door?" one of them said, looking cross. Lunar grabbed my wrist again, and started to drag me back to the back of the house.

"I think they're going to take you and lock you up… I don't want that to happen. Come on, we're going to my place to get my cousin and the car," she said once we were a good distance away.

"Alright…" I said. She continued to lead me away, and I was just more confused. This was beyond insane… maybe Jade or Dist had poisoned me and I was hallucinating all of this? It would explain a lot.

After a bit, we came to a road, though it was black with a yellow line down the middle. Vehicles like the weird white one but usually smaller were zooming along it at incredible speed, but she pulled me across when there weren't any coming. It didn't take too long for her to drag me to a rather small house that was painted bright yellow. She didn't try to talk to me, so I quietly followed. She took me inside, where a young man with scruffy blond hair was reading a book.

"Jer, we've got trouble. Solar's mind got replaced by Ion from that Tales of the Abyss game, and men in black in a white van showed up at her house to kidnap her. We're going on a road trip now," Lunar said. The young man looked up, looking very confused.

"…what?" he asked.

"Just get in the car. You're driving."

"…to where…?"

"Not here. Let's go."

Apparently, he figured it was best to just go along with it. I was dragged out to a room where there was one of those weird fast vehicles, which I was shoved into the back seating area of, while Lunar hopped in one of the front seats and her cousin got in the other front seat.

I had a feeling that by the time this was all over, I'd he a great deal less sane.

* * *

Next chapter, we return to Solana's side of the story.


	14. No More Apples

We now resume your usual programming.

* * *

When morning came, I was awakened by Tear gently shaking me.

"Fon Master. It's morning," she said as I opened my eyes and blinked up at her. I felt pretty refreshed despite sleeping on the ground. Auldrant sure had nice grass.

"Thank you, Tear," I said. She backed off, and I sat up and yawned.

"I made breakfast, everyone," Jade said from across the makeshift campsite. He was sitting beside a small fire, and several roasted apples were on a skewer held above it.

I was starting to get sick of apples.

I ignored this fact, however, as I was hungry. Sync was awake, and had managed to roll over on his stomach and was beating his own head against the ground.

"H-Hey, big brother, stop that! You're going to hurt yourself!" I said, though I didn't go over to him. I didn't want him to try biting me, though he wasn't able to at the moment. I remembered that I was still wearing his mask, and pulled it off. "…Will you stop if I give this back? And I'm sorry for what I said about you yesterday."

This got Sync's attention, and he turned his head to look up at me. He gave me an angry glare, but then closed his eyes for a moment. Then, he gave a slight nod. I rolled him over on his back, and carefully put his mask back on his face. Just as I had hoped, he stopped trying to slam his head against the ground.

"...Jade, can we take that belt off of his face? Even if he makes noise and attracts trouble, this is cruel," I said, looking over. Tear brought one of the cooked apples over for me.

"I don't see why not, but we may have to put it back when we enter St. Binah, as we certainly want no chance of trouble in a city," the Colonel said. I took a bite of my cooked apple, then undid the belt and moved it off his head. He spat out the glove at once.

"This glove tastes like blood and old guy sweat," Sync groaned. "And Ion? Regarding what you said about me yesterday, I'm going to kill you someday for it, when you aren't useful anymore and we're equals again."

"I wonder how much of that was true," Luke said. He had been awake, but was sitting over by Jade.

"Sync... I don't expect an answer, but how much of that _was_ true?" Tear asked.

"World's cruelest two-year-old is opinion, not fact, and I DON'T like stories," Sync hissed. I offered him some of my apple, but he turned his head away.

"...So all of it, then," Luke said. Sync quietly growled, but said nothing.

"Shall we be on our way? We can ensure Sync follows us by having someone hold onto the rope we used to tie him to the tree," Jade said, standing up. I was still munching on my apple, but I quickly went to put on my backpack. Everyone but Sync seemed alright with it, so we ended up with Jade and Guy leading the way while Jade held onto Sync's rope. I was walking alongside Sync in the middle of the group, Mieu on my shoulder. We walked in relative quiet, Guy and Jade talking in front but the others remaining quiet.

After a while, Mieu hopped onto Sync's shoulder. He turned his head slightly to look at the cheagle.

"...What are you doing?" he asked, a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"You look really unhappy. I want to see you smile like Ion!" Mieu said. Oh, cute little oblivious Mieu.

"I don't have anything to be happy about, and I doubt you'll be able to change that unless you get these ropes off of me or claw out Luke's eyes or something," Sync said. But his attitude seemed just a bit softened. Luke started to protest, but Tear elbowed him and he didn't speak.

"I can't do that. But I can tickle you. Then you'll laugh, right?" Mieu squeaked.

"...D-Don't you dare!" Sync yelped, face flushing red.

"Okay... Maybe later," Mieu said. The little cheagle stayed on his shoulder, though. It seemed like Mieu really wanted to befriend Sync. It was the funniest thing- Sync was our enemy, being held hostage against his will, and Mieu wanted to make him smile. So cute... I had never thought of Mieu as annoying.

"I would love to see you tickle him later, Mieu," Jade said, looking back. "His reaction would certainly be amusing." Sync looked very, very unhappy about this.

We continued walking for a while, and before too long, we approached St. Binah. In the game, the city had been surrounded by Oracle Knights... but there weren't any around.

"Hmm. They must be thinking that we wouldn't approach a city area with a hostage," Jade said, pushing his glasses up. "We may get odd looks, but I have the authority needed to get us around without trouble." We entered the city, and indeed we did get some odd looks. A completely unfazed Jade led us straight to the military base with a smile. He gave his name to a guard at the door, and we were let in with no trouble. I hung to the back, with a rather confused Luke, while Jade spoke to General McGovern about sending a letter to Emperor Peony concerning our situation and what had happened to the Tartarus. I wasn't too sure here, but was this different from the game...? I hadn't paid much attention to what Jade was doing here. Either way, I knew it was off-track, simply by way of our hostage God-General. After a while, Jade finally finished whatever he was doing. We all left the military base.

"Shall we stay the night at the inn? Much as it would be beneficial to start moving right away, we need more supplies. I, for one, don't care for apples," Jade said.

"YES! NO MORE APPLES!" I exclaimed. This got me some really odd looks. "...um. Shall we head on to the inn?"

* * *

Solana doesn't like apples anymore.


	15. SyncxArietta Is Awesome

This chapter is dedicated to SyncxArietta. Thank you for reviewing every chapter, I liked your comments and I'm glad you liked my story!

As for everyone else reading this, I like you guys too, though you seem to be a quiet bunch.

* * *

Watching Jade calmly explain to the inn's owner that he was important and that Sync was a hostage, but that he still needed somewhere to put him, was both amusing and painful. Poor Sync. We ended up leaving me, Luke, and Sync at the inn while Jade, Tear, and Guy went to go buy supplies and see if Anise was around. I was pretty sure she'd be fine… she had been in the game, right? But we wouldn't see her until the border, if it stayed the same.

After allowing Sync a restroom break, we tied him to one of the beds. Jade had arranged for us to stay in two rooms, each with three beds, so Sync got lucky. Jade probably would have put him on the floor if anise had been with us. Luke and I were also sharing that room, while Jade and Guy were with Tear. They had the courtesy to somehow section off Tear's bed. At that moment, I was thinking of how weird it was that all the replicas were together, while Mieu was bouncing on the bed.

"Hey, Ion. Can you get the little thing to tickle Sync? I'm bored," Luke said, looking over.

"If you do, when I get untied, I am going to rip your eyes out, then set your home on fire and roast you alive over its flames," Sync growled.

"…was that directed at me, Luke, or Mieu?" I asked.

"ALL OF YOU!"

"He scares me," Mieu said. "I don't want to tickle him if he's going to do that…"

"Hmph. I'll have to do it myself, then," Luke said. I barely restrained the urge to burst out laughing. This would be something to savor the moment of. Luke stood, and walked over. Sync moved away as much as he could- he could get about a foot away from the bed, but he was pretty much stuck.

"Don't touch me, you idiot," Sync said. If looks could kill, his acidic expression would have burned a hole in Luke by now, and his tone mirrored this. Luke, however, ignored this and pushed him over so he'd be an easier target, then lifted the smaller replica's shirt and started to tickle the sensitive skin on his belly.

Unlike in the game, where Sync might as well have had a million HP, he was pretty fragile, and tied up like this too, there was no way he could get out of the situation.

Sync squirmed and threatened Luke, barely holding back giggles, before he dissolved into laughter. The sheer absurdity of Luke randomly tickling Sync was too much, and I also laughed. This actually went on for way longer than it should have, only ending when Sync managed to kick Luke off of him.

"You two sound the same when you laugh. This whole replica thing is creepy as hell," Luke said, unbothered by having been kicked. Sync hadn't been able to kick him particularly hard. Sync had stopped laughing fairly quickly, while I was still getting the last giggles out.

"We're not the only ones, you know," I said, looking up with a slight smirk. This really seemed to bother Luke.

"There are more random people copies running around? Gah. And stop looking at me like that, it freaks me out," Luke said, pressing a hand to his forehead.

"If you ever tickle me again, I'm going to have to think of some new ways to hurt you once I get untied," Sync snarled.

"Aww, but isn't it good to laugh?" Mieu squeaked. Poor oblivious little Mieu.

"Not when you've got a redheaded idiot twice your size tickling you, no!" Sync snapped.

"Man, you need to lighten up. What's your problem, anyways? I know you're a replica, but so is Ion and he's pretty normal," Luke said with a frown.

"You have no idea what I've been through, while he just got to take it easy as a replacement for the original… who was a creepy prick, by the way, nobody liked him except Arietta and I can't imagine why," Sync growled. He just looked even more upset than before.

"Well, if I have no idea what you've been through, why don't you tell me so I will?" Luke said, crossing his arms.

"…I was thrown into the Mt. Zaleho volcano when I was only just created. I only managed to survive by landing on a rock ledge instead of in the lava. It took all my strength to climb out, and I was nearly dead when I got picked back up by the very people who made me and threw me away, to become one of their soldiers," Sync said, tone completely emotionless.

Luke stared at him, horrified. I couldn't help but do the same. I had known some of his past… but the way he told it was just awful. I wanted to smack some sense into him, but of course Luke would ask what the heck happened to Ion.

Instead, I opted for logic.

"…Van told you that you were created because of the score, didn't he? That's why you're going along with what he says, isn't it?" I said. His masked face tilted towards me.

"It's true, isn't it?" he said.

"No, it's the opposite. You were made in an attempt to deviate from the score. The score is not at fault… deviations themselves aren't either. Your existence is because of Van and Mohs alone," I said.

"Wait, wait, _Master Van_ threw you in a volcano?" Luke blurted out.

"Why wouldn't he? I'm a failed replica. And, Ion… I… I see what you're saying… hmph, maybe listening to Van is stupid if he's just going to lie to me. Normally, I wouldn't have believed you, but some things got me thinking," Sync said. He frowned, and turned his head away.

"Master Van is a good person! He-" Luke started.

"Before you move to defend him, keep in mind that he created me with a forbidden technology, threw me into a volcano, then when he realized I survived, lied to me to keep me in his grasp," Sync cut in. Luke turned away, clearly sulking. With Luke sulking and Sync silent, there wasn't much I could do… I got up, picking up my staff.

"Where are you going?" Luke asked.

"I'm going to get some fresh air. Also, Sync… you haven't eaten. Want me to buy you something?" I said.

"Hey, I want food too…" Luke said. "And I thought Jade and Tear had all the money."

"He did, but I got this without anyone else around," I said. "I'll get you something too, Luke. Sync?"

"Oh, whatever," came his response. I shrugged, and left.

* * *

Where does it go from here? Sync's starting to think a bit...


	16. Luke, However, Is Not

Luke and Sync dislike each other.

* * *

It was the easiest thing since arriving- go out, sneak off to the market, buy some food. I had just enough money on me, money I had picked up from when Talia beat up a couple monsters, to get three skewers of roasted chicken with light spices. They were snack-sized, but still. Real food, yay! I carried the food back to the inn, and went up to the room to find that Luke had gone over to bother Sync or something and Sync had bitten him.

"What… did I miss…?" I said. I offered Luke a chicken-on-a-stick.

"This little bastard bit me because I started arguing with him about Master Van, and he won't let go," Luke whined. He took the chicken, then tried to tug his hand out of Sync's mouth. Sync must have had a strong grip on Luke's hand there, because he couldn't dislodge the masked God-General's teeth.

"Sync, let go… I brought you food," I said. Sync released Luke's hand from his teeth.

"Huh… that actually looks good," he said. I stuck the end of the chicken in his mouth.

"You're welcome," I said before starting to eat mine. It was hilarious to watch him tilt his head and toss the chicken around to eat it without dropping it, since his hands were still tied, though he managed just fine. I briefly wondered how he had used the bathroom like that, then decided I didn't want to know. After he had managed to eat all the chicken off the wooden skewer, he took the tip in his mouth and with a quick toss of his head, managed to send it right into the small wastebasket by the door.

"Okay, that was awesome," I said.

"I hate to admit it, but Ion's right," Luke said.

"…I'm not quite sure what to say," Sync said, sounding genuinely puzzled. Aww, when he wasn't being a whiny brat and threatening to kill us, he was kinda cute.

"Don't trouble yourself over it, big brother. You could say thanks, but you don't have to," I said, smiling at him.

"…Why are you smiling at me like that? And I'm not going to thank that idiot redhead even if he did agree with you," Sync said, returning to his usual annoyed state. Too bad… I liked him better when he was confused.

"Well excuse me for being an idiot redhead, you little replica," Luke said, glaring at Sync.

"Excuse me for not having been good enough for your _wonderful_ Van," Sync hissed in return.

"Stop arguing, you're going to give me a headache," I sighed. Luke gave me an annoyed glance, but didn't respond to Sync's retort. Sync gave up as well, just lying down silently.

After a while, Tear, Jade, and Guy finally returned from the wonderful fun shopping trip of doom. It was fairly late at that point, so everyone went to sleep. Even Sync. While I slept, I didn't have a dream… which was a bit unusual for me. Regardless, the next morning Jade woke everyone nice and early. He had already gotten everything ready…

"I'm still tired," I sighed as we started out of St. Binah. Jade was holding Sync's leash again, and had forced the other Ion replica to carry the item bag.

"We must keep moving regardless. Or would you rather we wait for the other God-Generals to come rescue their comrade and take you prisoner again?" Jade said.

"…no," I sighed.

I followed the others in silence as we walked. It was nice and bright out, but not too warm- it was fairly cool, even. The light breeze felt nice. We were attacked by monsters on occasion, but it was nothing that couldn't be handled with Guy and Luke stabbing it to death while Jade and Tear used spells as backup. We walked a good ways, and Sync was quiet the entire time.

After a while, though, Sync stopped.

"…What?" Jade said, looking back at him.

"Hey. Old man. Untie me. I'm going to punch Luke once for tickling me, because he deserves it, but after that I'll help you. I want to hurt some monsters, and get free food," Sync said. "…Plus, the more I think about some things Ion said, the more I think that what I was doing doesn't matter."

"Don't do it," Luke instantly said.

"I would, but I cannot take your word for it. You could simply be saying this to give yourself a chance to escape," Jade said. "Come along now." He started to walk along again.

Sync frowned, but walked along anyways. I moved a bit closer to him, and motioned for him to lean over so I could whisper in his ear. He leaned over a bit.

"I could trip Luke with my staff for you," I whispered to Sync. Sync snickered- the first time he'd probably ever really laughed when not being tickled.

"Do it, do it," he said, grinning. I nodded, and moved away.

After we'd been walking for some time, I pretended to stumble, and flailed my arms to catch myself. My staff slammed into Luke's legs as he was taking a step, tripping him. He fell to the ground, face-first.

"Ow," Luke said, while Sync burst out laughing. The redhead got up, then snarled, "Stop laughing, you little bastard! It's not funny!" Everyone else stopped, and stared.

"Yes it is, you got tripped by Ion," Sync said in response, still laughing. Luke proceeded to tackle Sync to the ground and start punching him, again and again. Sync's laughs quickly turned into yelps of pain as a furious Luke hit him.

"Luke, stop it! He can't defend himself, you're being cruel," Tear said, quickly stepping over and trying to pull Luke off of Sync. I tucked my staff under my arm and assisted her, and we managed to get Luke to back off.

"Jeez, Luke, I can understand being annoyed, but don't you think beating him up when he can't hit back is going a little too far?" Guy said, frowning. Sync sat up, his mask having been knocked off his head. A bit of blood tricked down from his nose, and his visible eye was narrowed.

"Luke? I'm out for your blood," Sync growled, though it was hard to take him seriously- his voice sounded like it does when your nose is stuffy or broken.

"He was laughing at me! And I bet he told Ion to do that, too," Luke said, sticking his tongue out at Sync. Sync spat some blood that had pooled in his mouth at Luke, managing to spray him. "Agh, disgusting! He got his filthy reject blood on me!" The rage building in Sync was almost visible.

"Luke, that's a horrible thing to say! You should be ashamed of yourself! Sync's blood is no more 'filthy reject blood' than mine is, or yours is!" I snapped at the redhead, before swinging my staff around and whacking him in the side with the tuning fork on the end. I wished I wasn't playing Ion, or I could have gone on to kick him. As it was, though, I stopped at hitting him once. "You apologize to my big brother now, or you will regret it." I had seen enough of Luke's attitude to last a lifetime, and right when Sync was starting to warm up to the group…

"I wouldn't apologize to him if my life depended on it!" Luke said, glaring at me. I returned his glare, though with more of a cold fury than his red-hot temper.

"…Shall we move on? Tear, I believe Sync's nose is broken, and I think he'd appreciate you healing it," Jade interrupted. At Jade's direction, Tear went to heal the green-haired God-General, and I picked up his mask for him. Soon, we were moving again, with an annoyed Luke sulking in the back of the group.

* * *

...scratch that, they HATE each other.


	17. Be Glad Jade Isn't Your Dad

Like chapter 3, this is mostly filler, though a couple things of note happen.

...Also, anyone noticed that the chapter titles are getting progressively sillier?

* * *

Luke being a total brat to Sync had two effects, I noticed that evening as we set up camp. We had come a good ways, and were nearing the Fubras River.

First effect of Luke's behavior- aside from Guy, who understood why Luke was a brat, everybody was mostly ignoring Luke. Luke was unhappy about this, and was sulking off to the side.

The second effect was unexpected, though- everyone except Luke was treating Sync fairly well. Though Jade still refused to untie him, he had allowed Sync a comfortable spot to rest. When Tear made dinner, simple but delicious pasta, she served him second, right after me. Guy did what he could to keep Luke and Sync apart. Sync really didn't know how to react to this. I sat beside him as everyone was eating- it was pretty hard for him to eat without his hands, so I was helping him. He was clearly embarrassed, but he liked the food too much to care.

"Everyone's acting all weird and paying attention to me," Sync said to me. "I figure I can ask you, you've never lied to me… why?"

"They're being nice to you because Luke's acting like he's seven and you had to take that crap from him," I said, as I was taking another bite of my food. "…of course, Luke's acting like he's seven is completely justified, but…"

"Oh, you know about that?" Sync asked, sounding intrigued now. "I couldn't help but hear from Van… and that whiny Asch."

"Yeah, I know. Doesn't give him the right to be a jerk, though," I said. I knew what Sync was referring to- the fact that there were three replicas with us, not two like Guy, Luke, Tear, and maybe Jade thought. "A bit of fighting with even odds is one thing, but attacking you when you're tied up, for something so stupid…"

"No kidding. I'm keeping track of every way he's hurt me, and I fully intend to retaliate equally for everything he's done to me. At first, I was thinking I'd retaliate double, but this is easier and he'll still be a wreck when I'm through," Sync said.

"Instead of hurting him back, if you're nice to him back, he'll feel like a total dirtbag and never be mean to you ever again," I suggested. "A little less effort and still satisfying?"

"Not as satisfying, not as much fun," Sync retorted. "Though, if for some unimaginable reason I have to cooperate with him, I might try it. Making him feel like a total dirtbag is an appealing idea."

"Well, I really shouldn't have expected better from you," I sighed. We paused, and ate a bit more. A sudden thought struck me, and I turned to Sync again. "By the way, Sync? If Van made us, and Jade invented the fomicry that let him, does that make Van our mommy and Jade our daddy?"

"No. If I were your father, Ion would be a good deal less scatterbrained, and Sync would have a much more manageable temper and be less cruel," Jade said, having approached when neither of us was paying attention.

"I'm not sure I'd want you to be my dad anyways," Sync said, making a slightly disgusted face. Jade chuckled.

"Well, you two play nice, and be sure to get a good night's rest before we cross the river tomorrow. The bridge is out, so we'll have to wade through the shallows," Jade said. He left.

"I hate getting wet," Sync moaned.

"Don't worry, it's just one day," I said. We returned to eating- we were the only ones not done yet.

I realized something right then- talking to Sync like this, I was reminded of my best friend back on Earth, Luci… whose nickname was Lunar. And she always called me Solar. I didn't miss my parents much, as they weren't around much anyways, but I missed Lunar and her cousin. I gave a sigh, suddenly feeling a bit homesick. Sync glanced at me, but didn't ask what was up.

Once we had both finally finished eating, I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Sync asked.

"I want to talk to Tear about something. Sorry for leaving you," I said. Sync raised an eyebrow at my apology, but was silent as I walked over to Tear. She was watching the sky- it was that time when it's getting dark, the sun is below the horizon but it isn't completely dark yet, and the first stars are just appearing in the sky. I sat down beside her.

"Hello, Fon Master," she said. "The sky is lovely at this time of night… don't you think?"

"Yeah… hey. Tear. I wanted to ask you something… I'm asking you because you seem like the most down-to-earth person here," I said, looking up at her. She was taller than me, even sitting.

"Hm? What is it?" she said, looking at me. She looked curious.

"…I left a friend behind a while ago. I don't know how long it'll be before I can see them again- and no, I'm not referring to Anise. How should I deal with this…? My friend is really going to miss me, and doesn't know where I went, but I can't go visit them," I said. I made sure to not be specific, of course.

Tear blinked, not quite sure how to respond. She looked back up at the sky. I followed her gaze, and noticed a shooting star fly by.

"I think you should write letters to your friend. If for some reason you can't deliver them, you can just write them and pretend they're getting sent, then give them all to your friend at once. It might not be a replacement for seeing your friend… but it might help," Tear suggested. I smiled. This was why I had picked Tear.

"I'll do that. Thanks so much, Tear," I said. I held my arms out as if to hug her. She blinked, then hugged me briefly. Once the hug was over, I went back over to my spot by Sync, who had already gone to sleep, and curled up to rest.

* * *

CUTE TEAR ION HUG.

...Anyways, by the end of next chapter, Luke and Sync won't hate each other so much. That will be fun, right?


	18. Solar The Leetle Tugboat

Sync gets untied this chapter. Isn't that exciting?

* * *

In the morning, everyone except me and Sync picked up the campsite, and as soon as it looked like we hadn't been there, we were off. We weren't encountering many monsters… lucky for the fighters. We walked for a while, before coming to a series of stony ledges. At the bottom, there was a huge, wide river, flowing pretty quickly. Luckily, there were rocks that were barely underwater and sticking out in a way that we could cross safely.

"…We're crossing THAT?" Sync exclaimed. He sounded upset, and just a bit scared.

"I would prefer not to cross the river when it's in this condition myself, but we really have no choice," Jade said. He started to lead the way down the ledges, tugging Sync after him. Everyone followed, though Sync wasn't the only apprehensive one.

"What if someone slips, huh? They'd probably drown!" Luke whined.

"You'd be the worst… you don't remember how to swim," Guy said, glancing at Luke.

"I'm sure we'll cross safely if we make an effort to be deliberate," Tear said, though I could tell from the way she gripped her staff more tightly in her hands that she was nervous.

I was silent as we approached the river. I would be fine if I fell in, as I could swim decently and could probably quickly steer myself to the riverbank. But if Luke couldn't swim, Sync hated water, and Jade was worried, this might be a rather unhappy part of the trip.

Even Mieu had his worries.

"Um… I can't swim," he squeaked, looking at me from his perch on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mieu. Stay on my shoulder. I can swim pretty well, so if I fall in, you can just hold on and you'll be fine," I said, patting the adorable cheagle on the head. Anyone who thinks Mieu is annoying obviously is either a bratty idiot or has never held the fuzzy little thing.

"You can swim?" Sync asked.

"It's not hard," I responded.

"No, I was wondering when you got a chance to learn," Sync said, blinking at me. Ah.

"The Fon Master has many secrets," I said, smirking at him. He snickered. I was rather surprised- within a few days, I had gotten Sync to develop a sense of humor. I thought he'd be harder to amuse than that. "…Do you know how to swim?"

"Yeah, but obviously if I'm tied up like this, I can't do a thing," Sync said. "So if I fall in, either someone has to come in after me or I'll drown."

"If you fall in, I'll vote to let you drown," Luke said. I proceeded to hit him over the head with my staff, causing him to stumble and curse. We had just arrived at the edge of the river.

"Ion, as much as I agree that he needed that, please don't do that on the rocks. If he fell in, someone might have to go out of their way to fish him out," Jade said.

"I won't," I said. With that, we started across. I don't know why, but Luke was walking pretty close to me and Sync.

We had made it about halfway across, when a huge fish jumped out of the water and tackled Luke, knocking the redhead off-balance. He grabbed the closest person, Sync, to try and pull himself up, but he only managed to drag Sync in with him. Jade held firm on the rope tied to Sync, which resulted in Jade holding onto a rope with Luke and Sync in the water on the other end, Luke clinging to Sync so he wouldn't be swept away.. Jade struggled to pull them back over.

"You idiot! Why'd you pull me in?" Sync yelled.

"I was trying to catch myself, and you were closest!" Luke snapped back.

"Tear, hold Mieu and my staff," I said, quickly shoving the cheagle and staff into her hands.

"Ion, wait, you-" Tear started. I moved over to Jade, and started helping to pull on the rope. Guy had already started helping. We were getting them in closer, and for a minute I thought we were going to be able to get them in safely.

Then, the fish jumped out again, and its sharp upper fin sliced the rope. Without thinking, I dove in after them. My slim, fragile body wasn't quite made for this, but regardless I managed to catch up to them in a second.

"ION!" I could hear Tear and Guy cry from behind. My main concern was the two boys incapable of swimming at the moment, though. Luke was flailing wildly, and Sync was, well, sinking. I grabbed onto Sync and increased my efforts, managing to keep both of our heads above water. Luke wasn't sinking, but he wasn't going to figure out how to go anywhere…

"Luke! Grab onto my back, and hold Sync for me. I'll get us to shore," I directed, swimming to him. "If you let go of him, it's entirely your fault, since you knocked him in." Luke obeyed, grabbing the tied-up replica in one arm and grabbing onto the collar of my… um… robe with the other. I wasn't sure what it was, really. Regardless, I swam towards shore, accidentally kicking Luke once but managing to drag myself onto the riverbank with Luke and Sync safely in tow. Once Luke let go, I collapsed on the shore, panting.

"…Ion. You okay? That was pretty brave of y-" Luke started, kneeling beside me, when suddenly he was punched in the face from the side. "OW! Ow, ow, that hurt!"

"You deserved that," Sync said, reaching down to untie the rope on his legs. The water had let him loosen the rope binding his hands enough to get himself untied, and he was free. "But I'm stopping at that. You did help me when Ion said to, and plus, you'll need to be in good condition."

"…wait, seriously? You got free… and you're just going to stop at punching me once?" Luke said, blinking. Though his cheek was starting to bruise a bit… I could only imagine how much a Sync punch hurt.

"I'd love to punch you more, but then I might not keep getting free food from your friends. That, and we're probably going to get attacked by monsters and somebody has to make sure they don't eat Ion," Sync said, giving a nonchalant shrug. "We heading upstream or what?"

"Uh… okay," Luke said. He helped me to my feet, and we started off.

* * *

Sync has decided that free food and Ion being safe is more important than punching Luke. Aww, he's such a sweet boy.

Sync: Screw you.

-pats him on head- Anyways, if you've read this much, thanks and keep reading!


	19. Mmm, Carrots

Sync and Luke haven't ripped each other's throats out yet. A good sign, yes?

* * *

The next twenty minutes or so- we had been swept quite a ways downstream- was very, very weird.

A rather relaxed Sync was walking beside me and Luke as if we were all good friends, though he did make the occasional joke at Luke's expense when a monster attacked and he had beaten it into submission before Luke could even draw his blade. Was he just pretending…? Nah, he already would have gutted Luke like a trout and taken off with me. If he wasn't honestly getting along with Luke, Luke would be dead or out cold right now and he'd be flying off on a bird with me tossed over its back. He wasn't the type to tolerate a person he hated, as far as I knew.

Luke was almost as surprised as me, though he didn't protest. Having Sync punching monsters in the face and not you is a good thing, and the redhead knew at least that much.

As Luke and I watched him dart around a giant turtle that had tried to attack us, sending punches and kicks into every exposed spot whenever he got an opening, I looked up at the redheaded idiot beside me.

"Big brother really likes to hit things," I remarked.

"No kidding. He looks as fragile as you, but he's got more energy than Anise and Jade put together," Luke said, scratching his head. The turtle turned tail to flee from Sync, and he gave it another kick to the tail as it fled.

"Heck yeah! You two saw that, right? That was awesome!" Sync crowed. He definitely was in good spirits after being untied.

"Nice job, big brother," I said. "You really have a lot of energy…"

"I've been tied up for two days, with lots of built-up energy and frustration. I have to do something with it, and these monsters are in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said as we started walking again.

Finally, we came to an area with rocky ledges, similar to where we had started crossing.

"Makes some sense, I guess. Should we start climbing the ledges?" Luke said.

"Yup. I'll take Ion up, you follow us," Sync said. Before I could say anything, the other replica had lifted me up and tucked me under his arm, and started easily hopping up the ledges.

I could hear Luke mutter "Showoff" as he scrambled up after us. A few ledges up, the area ahead leveled out into a downwards slope. Sync set me down.

"Are we going to wait here for the others?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Nothing better to do," Sync said. I sat down on a nearby rock, grateful for the chance to rest. Having a fragile body, then doing some serious swimming, and then walking with only very short breaks had worn me out a bit. Luke sat in the grass, scanning the area, while Sync flipped over and stood on his hands. His hair looked ridiculous upside-down, as did his coat, but I held in my giggles and focused on watching for Jade, Tear, and Guy.

"…Sync? What are you doing?" Luke asked.

"I'm standing on my hands. What does it look like I'm doing?" Sync retorted. I did let out a small giggle at this, but before Sync could comment, Tear, Jade, and Guy came into view, walking along the riverbank. Sync hastily hopped up and landed on his feet, hair and coat falling back into position.

"Guys! Hey!" Luke called. Tear, Jade, and Guy turned and spotted us, and instantly rushed over.

"Thank goodness you're alright, Ion!" Tear said as she came close.

"You alright there, Luke?" Guy said, going to the redhead at once.

"Interesting. Sync isn't tied up anymore, yet Luke only seems to have been hit once," Jade noted aloud. I stood up and hugged Tear, who smiled before hugging me back in the way an older sister would hug their little brother. It was really a cute thing.

"I told you I was just going to whack Luke once then go after monsters, and you didn't believe me," Sync said, folding his arms.

"It seems I was mistaken in not taking your word. Don't worry, I will allow you to remain untied," Jade said.

"Glad we could reach an understanding, old man," Sync said with a grin. We started walking again, heading away from the water's edge. Mieu hopped back onto my shoulder.

"You keep giving me to Tear right before bad things happen," the cheagle said, sounding worried.

"Don't worry too much about it, Mieu. I do it so you can be useful to her," I said, patting mieu on the head. We kept walking.

However, before long we were interrupted by a huge roar. A tiny pink-haired girl was sitting on a huge liger, clutching a doll.

"I'm here to take back Sync and Ion…" she said, glaring at the group with her red eyes. She then noticed Sync standing there unrestrained. "Sync! Help me get Ion!"

"…Nah. You do it, I'll watch. Can I have a carrot to munch on?" Sync said. Tear, who had the item bag, tossed him a carrot. "Come on, Ion, let's watch. This will be entertaining." Everyone else started to prepare for Arietta to attack, while Sync and I sat out on the side. Arietta attacked with her liger and a bird that swooped in from above, and we watched. Jade started attacking Arietta with spells, while Guy and Luke kept the liger busy and Tear healed everyone while running around dodging the bird's attacks.

Sync munched his carrot as Tear just barely ducked under a swipe of talons and Luke slashed at the liger's head.

"Want some?" Sync said, offering me an unbitten part of the carrot.

"Uh… sure," I said. I took the carrot and chomped part off, then handed it back. The fight continued without us, and at last Luke and Guy downed the liger. They didn't kill it, though… once it was injured enough, Arietta signaled it while enduring an Energy Blast. It turned and ran. Guy and Luke turned on the bird, which freed up Tear to just heal. Arietta managed to get her own spells in a few times, but Jade was faster. The bird ended up fleeing as well, and right afterwards Jade whacked Arietta with the blunt end of his spear. She collapsed, out cold.

"Nice," Sync said as he finished off his carrot. Jade raised his spear to stab her.

"…W-Wait, don't kill her!" I said, rushing over as quickly as my body would allow. Jade turned to look at me. Luke also came over.

"Yeah, gramps, she can-" he started, when suddenly the ground shook. I gave a startled cry, but managed to remain standing, and the others had to catch themselves as well.

"An earthquake?" Tear exclaimed.

* * *

EARTHQUAKE. So, I dunno if you actually fight Gloomietta here in the game, but we do now. So there.


	20. Tear Is My Favorite

MIASMA AAH

* * *

This was no ordinary earthquake.

The area started to flood with purple mist. It was fast, too- up to my knees and drifting upwards in seconds. I took a breath, intending to ask what was going on.

The mist had drifted up enough that I inhaled some.

It was an awful sickly-sweet smelling mist, and it made my lungs feel like I had breathed in a year's worth of dust. I immediately started coughing, and kept coughing, unable to clear my lungs. The part of my brain that wasn't concerned with my sudden coughing fit realized that this was the miasma… I couldn't remember Ion reacting like this to the miasma, but then again, Ion had never used his staff to help support himself walking in the game, so they might have just left it out for convenience.

The ground had stopped shaking, but there was still the local miasma leak to worry about. That, and the fact that I still couldn't stop coughing.

"Gaaah, this stuff is awful! What the hell is it?" Sync wheezed.

"It's miasma… Everyone, get close to me. I can get it away," Tear said. She sounded unaffected… she would. I walked over to her right away, as did everyone else.

"_Croa ryou ze tue ryou rei neu ryou ze…"_

The second fonic hymn, in Tear's beautiful voice, echoed around us. A purple energy shield unfolded around us, pushing the miasma out. Arietta was lying in the shield's area of effect, luckily. The shield remained, Tear focusing on keeping it there.

"Phew…" I sighed, finally able to stop coughing. "We should get out of here before it comes back, huh?"

"Yes, that would be a good idea," Jade said. He and Tear started to walk off, the shield moving with Tear. Luke picked up the unconscious Arietta before following, as everybody else started moving.

"Luke, why are you bringing her?" Guy asked.

"I can't just leave her there to die… she's just a kid," Luke said. Soon, we had exited the area affected by the miasma. Tear released the shield, though she seemed a bit tired because of it. Luke dropped Arietta and kept following.

"…So we're just leaving her there? I can live with that," Sync said, sounding fairly indifferent. We continued to just walk away.

After a while of walking, we reached the road again. We would have looked like a really weird group to anybody passing by, though nobody did pass. It was past noon, the sun having already passed over directly and now sinking in the sky, by the time we arrived at the Malkuth side of Kaitzur.

"I'm hungry," I whined as we walked in. Tear took out a carrot and offered it to me- she was still carrying the item bag. I gratefully took it. Sync turned his head to face me. "…What?"

"…Oh, wait," he said. He took his mask off, then looked at me with a pitiful begging-puppy look. That was just silly, and I found myself wishing I had a camera.

"Alright, alright," I said. I snapped it in half, and gave Sync one half before attacking mine. Apparently Sync really liked carrots.

As we approached the actual border, Luke said, "Is that Anise?"

Anise was muttering darkly as she walked away, having been denied passage.

"Anise, Luke can hear you," I teasingly called. Anise perked up on seeing us, and immediately ran to hug Luke. She only came up to his waist, though… I was glad I was taller than her, even if it wasn't by much.

"Luke! I missed you!" the short girl happily exclaimed.

"Hey," Luke said, trying to push her away.

"Oh look, it's the little girl who likes to play with her doll!" Sync said. Anise jolted at the sound of his voice- he had purposely made himself sound more like me than usual.

"Wh-What the heck?" she exclaimed. She spotted him, and frowned. "…Hey! He's a God-General! What's he doing here?"

"I decided that following you guys around and beating up monsters in exchange for free food is better than taking orders from Van and Mohs," Sync said.

"And he's my big brother," I added in a cheery tone.

"Ugh… So I have to put up with him…?" Anise sighed. Everyone nodded, and she groaned.

"We do have a problem, though. We cannot get through without identification," Jade said.

"You won't need it if you're dead!" a voice said. A red-and-black blur shot past, aiming for Luke. In an instant, Luke drew his sword, and started to block the incoming strike.

In another instant, Sync was there. He shoved Luke aside and caught the attacker's sword with his gloved hand. I could recognize from his back that it was Asch, the original redheaded noble…

"Sync! Out of the way!" Asch snarled. He twisted his sword, but Sync held on.

"No way. Not only does this go against your orders, but if I let you kill him, I can't get back at him for something I refuse to mention," Sync said.

Asch growled, and tugged his sword out of Sync's hand. He looked like he was going to attack the masked replica, but then a third person stepped in and pushed Asch back.

"Stand down, Asch. Sync is right, this is directly in opposition of your orders," he said. It was Van- tall, with spikes on his shoulders and his beard and creepy eyebrows. Asch turned and ran off with a frustrated growl.

"Hey, Commandant," Sync said, waving hello with the hand he had used to grab Asch's sword. His palm was sliced open to the bone, and blood was starting to trickle down his arm.

"And you're also not doing what you're supposed to," Van said with a frown.

"Van…" Tear said, narrowing her eyes, She pulled out one of her daggers.

"Tear, you're misunderstanding the situation. Calm down… I'll explain what's really going on if you come to the inn," Van said. He glanced at Sync, then walked off. Tear sighed, and put her dagger away.

"Jeez, Asch sure messed up my hand," Sync said, yanking off his glove. "This is going to scar big time… maybe I should let it heal in a fist so I can still punch things."

"That won't be necessary. I'll heal that for you," Tear offered. Sync walked over to her with a grin, and let her heal the wound. When she was done, he licked the spilled blood off his hand, then inspected his palm.

"Nice, it's just like it was before that bastard sliced it open. I think you're my new favorite healer," Sync said, sounding amused.

"I'm… not quite sure what to say," Tear said, blinking.

"Hey! Are you guys gonna come or what?" Luke shouted. He had already sprinted to the inn.

"Shall we follow our dear impatient redhead?" Jade said. I snickered, and trotted after Jade. Anise and the others came as well, and we entered the inn to speak with Van.

* * *

Thing to look forward to next chapter- liger egg hatching.


	21. Mascot Numero Duo

Wow, I have not updated this in forever I am a horrible person :/

* * *

When we entered the inn, Van was waiting to speak to us. I hung in back, not wanting to get in the way. Really, I didn't pay attention as Van lied and said that all the God-Generals were disobeying him and working for Mohs and whatnot. After a bit, though, Sync interrupted.

"Hey, Van? I quit. I don't like you or Mohs anymore, so I'm ditching. Have fun," he said.

"…That's rather sudden, Sync," Van said, looking quite surprised.

"Whatever," Sync said. He then got up and went to stand by me.

The discussion continued without us, and I started to sneak outside. Sync and Mieu followed me.

"I hate listening to that guy talk," I groaned once we were outside.

"No kidding. Only reason I'm not telling them that liar's real plans is because Jade is the only one who'd believe it," Sync sighed.

However, there was a sudden but important distraction. My backpack twitched. I took it off and opened it. The liger egg was still there… but it moved slightly. I pulled it out.

"What do you have there, Ion?" Sync asked. "Liger egg? Cool."

"Yeah… It moved," I said, watching it carefully.

"It's going to hatch soon," Mieu squeaked. I sat down on the ground and set the egg down in front of me. Mieu poked it, and the egg started to rock back and forth. Then, it cracked. The crack spread, and then a big chunk of eggshell fell off. A little yellow furry head poked out, and a tiny little liger crawled out of the egg. It opened its eyes, and looked up at me.

"…It's cute," I said. It blinked at me, then turned and started to eat the eggshell.

"Cool… you gonna name it? Maybe Fang, or Killer?" Sync said from where he stood beside me. He seemed fairly interested.

"Those are good names for a guard dog, but this is a liger," I said with a frown. "If it's a girl, I'll call her Rion, and if it's a boy, I'll call him Kirihito." Sync looked as surprised as you can look while wearing a mask that covers the top half of your face.

"Oh… I like your idea, then. Those are names from that story…" he said. The little liger had eaten the eggshell, and it started to lick itself off.

"He's a boy liger," Mieu said, looking up at me.

"Kirihito it is, then," I said. At that moment, Tear came out.

"Ion, why did you- oh? The liger egg hatched?" she said, blinking as she noticed the liger. It finished licking itself, then climbed up onto my lap and fell asleep.

"Yup. I named him Kirihito, and he's my new pet," I said with a grin. I scooped the baby liger up in my arms and stood up. Tear approached, and looked the little animal over.

"…he's cute," she said.

"That's what I thought too," I responded.

"…Um, anyways. It's getting late… we're planning on staying here for the night, then heading to the Kaitzur port in Kimlasca tomorrow. Van had some extra passports, so we'll be able to cross," Tear said.

"That sounds good," I said. "Sync, how-" I started, looking back at him.

He was gone.

"…Sync?"

"Where… did he go…?" Tear said, looking around with a frown. "…ah well, let's go in…" She went in, and I followed. Luke was there immediately.

"Hey, Ion, I was going to ask you- hey! It's a baby liger! The egg hatched?" Luke said, sounding like an excitable little kid.

"Yeah, it did. His name is Kirihito," I said, Luke carefully poked the little liger. It woke up, and looked up at him, then went back to sleep.

"…He's soft," Luke said.

"What's all this, then?" an amused Jade said, popping up beside Luke. Anise followed him, and Guy appeared seconds later.

"Hi, guys, this is Kirihito," I said, holding up my baby liger.

"Wooooow… he's tiny," Anise said.

"I hope you don't expect me to have any role in feeding him," Jade said, though he did look the little feline over with a more normal smile than his usual amused smirk.

"…Does he bite?" Guy asked.

I looked down at the sleepy liger cub in my arms. He was curled up and looked just like a cute little cat.

"Doubt it. By the way… did any of you see Sync?" I said.

"No. Is he missing?" Luke said, tilting his head.

"I certainly hope he hasn't betrayed our trust…" Jade muttered darkly. "As it is, though, it would be best to get some rest right now."

Soon, we all started to go to the inn's rooms. Everyone was sharing, 3 people to a room except for the two girls by themselves, and I ended up with Jade and an empty place reserved for Sync in case he came back.

I was tired from the day's events, and I was soon in bed starting to drift off to sleep when the door was flung open, slamming into the wall. I sat up with a jolt and looked over to see that Sync had just entered. His forearms were covered in gashes, and the two halves of his broken mask were in his hands, another gash visible across his face.

"Sync, what happened to you…?" I asked. Jade looked up from his book and frowned.

"That damn bastard Asch tried to come back… I managed to beat the crap out of him, but he had a sword," Sync moaned, walking over to his bed and collapsing onto it.

"Sync, you're bleeding all over the sheets… I'll go get Tear, she can heal you," I offered, getting up. Sync just impassively stayed where he was, so I darted off.

"Tear! Tear! Teeeeeeear!" I called, knocking on the door to Tear and Anise's room. The door opened to reveal a very confused Tear.

"What?" she asked.

"Sync's bleeding all over the nice clean bed. Can you fix him?" I said, looking up at her.

"Alright… I guess he came back, then?" she said as we started back to where I'd left Sync. We arrived to see Sync had repositioned himself so he was laying comfortably on his back, and… his arms were still covered in gashes, and there were red stains on the sheets from him moving. He was licking blood off his arm at the moment.

"Sync, you do know you can die of septic shock from bacteria in your mouth getting into wounds, right?" I said as Tear went over to heal him.

"…die of what from what getting into my wounds?" Sync asked, looking very confused.

"Never mind," I said.

Tear was quickly able to heal Sync up, luckily, and Sync quickly explained that he had caught a glimpse of Asch and assumed Asch was going to try to break orders yet again, so he'd fought him off. After that, everybody settled back down in their rooms. I curled up to sleep with my baby liger at my side, and drifted off while feeling sorry for whoever had to wash Sync's sheets.

* * *

Well, we're getting decently far now~


End file.
